KUALA LUMPUR:Children are often the hardest hit by the consequences of the climate crisis and poor environmental health systems, as evident in the Sungai Kim Kim incident last year, haze pollution and annual monsoon floods.
Regardless, there is still apathy on the part of leaders, officials and politicians on children's environmental health, experts said.
They called for stakeholders' concerted efforts to include children in all policies, interventions and action plans, paying special attention to the vulnerable.
The United Nations Children's Fund's (Unicef) representative in Malaysia, Dr Rashed Mustafa Sarwar, said Malaysia's child and maternal health policies and interventions tend to focus on treatment, with very little investment in prevention and reduction of environmental risks.
"There are limited integrated policies and investment practices addressing environmental and climate risk factors to child and maternal health.
"Unicef is advocating for the empowerment of children to ensure their concerns and interests are reflected in climate and environmental policies and actions.
"The vulnerability of children, both physically and mentally, should be recognised in all policies, plans and action plans related to environmental health."
Dr Rashed was commenting on a recent report where children's environmental health was the main agenda in the National Environmental Health Action Plan spearheaded by the Health Ministry.
Commending the report, he said Unicef proposed for a regional collaboration in technical support, data sharing and monitoring, advocacy and the development of a regional action plan on children's environmental health.
The World Health Organisation reported that more than one in four child deaths could be prevented by cleaning up the environment.
It said every year, environmental risks such as indoor and outdoor air pollution, secondhand smoke and unsafe water and sanitation take the lives of 1.7 million children under five years old — 26 per cent of child deaths.
Dr Rashed said while Malaysia had done relatively well to reduce environmental threats affecting children in the last 20 years, the country was still at risk of several environmental challenges.
These include indoor and outdoor air pollution, poor waste management, dengue, climate-related extreme weather events (such as floods and storms), environmental contaminants (such as heavy metals and pathogenic microorganisms prevalent in contaminated soil and water), contaminated food and inadequate sanitation.
He said two common environmental issues in Malaysia were the rise in water-borne diseases due to annual floods and haze caused by open burning in the crop cycle, which not only affected children's health, but also their access to education.
"In September 2019, for example, due to unhealthy air pollution levels, 2,646 schools were closed, affecting over 1.7 million students.
"Other environmental health issues are incidental, such as when harmful chemicals were illegally dumped in Sungai Kim Kim in Pasir Gudang in 2019.
"The polluted river did not harm the children living nearby directly, but they suffered secondary effects instead as the pollutants evaporated and polluted the air.
"This unethical behaviour has been observed multiple times this year when toxic waste was dumped into Sungai Selangor, causing water disruptions in the Klang Valley."
Dr Rashed said it was important to urgently strengthen organisational and community capacity to prevent and mitigate the impacts of environmental threats on the poorest and most marginalised children, especially those with disabilities as they will be disproportionately affected.
He said there was a need to increase awareness among parents, schools and daycare centres of ways to protect children from environmental issues as they are more vulnerable than adults.
"Children are constantly growing. Their systems, including a child's central nervous, immune, reproductive and digestive systems, are still developing.
"They behave differently from adults and have little control over their environment. Unlike adults, they may be both unaware of risks and unable to make choices to protect their health."
He said Unicef Malaysia had collaborated with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Universiti Malaysia Sabah to conduct a study on the impact of climate change and environmental degradation on children in Malaysia as there was currently limited evidence on the link between them.
The study started in March and is expected to be completed in March next year.
Consultant paediatrician and Malaysian Paediatric Association committee member Datuk Dr Zulkifli Ismail said it was about time the government and stakeholders took environmental health seriously.
"The National Environmental Health Action Plan's list is pretty comprehensive, and as a nation, we have not been dealing with all of these problems.
"Urban health issues and vector-borne diseases are rampant. Contamination of water supplies at source and air pollution from vehicles are not properly addressed.
"We must embark on and encourage less use of fossil fuels, so there should be economic incentives for hybrid and electric vehicles instead of one-off tax exemptions to garner votes."
OUR GENERATION FAILED TO CREATE BALANCE
He said children develop higher cognitive function and social and motor skills when they were in stimulating environments.
However, in contaminated environments, children would not be allowed to play or explore their surroundings, which inhibit their developmental potential, he said.
Dr Zulkifli, who is also Immunise4Life chairman, said indoor air pollution, from secondary smoking, vehicle exhaust chemicals, factory effluents and radiation, should not be taken lightly.
"Environmental pollution leads to physical symptoms and illnesses in children, mainly respiratory and skin problems.
"Undetected lead or mercury in our paint, toys and food contributes to cognitive disabilities in children by affecting the brain transmitters.
"Many children get worsening asthma attacks or viral respiratory infections when they live in houses or apartments near ongoing construction sites or busy highway traffic."
He said there should be concerted government rulings and enforcement on the use of toxin-free materials in paints and toys, besides monitoring pollutants in food sources and addressing water contamination.
"Environmental health should be taught in school so children will grow up to be leaders with a social conscience to improve the environment.
"They have to find a balance between progress, as we know it, and preserving the environment because our generation has failed to create that balance on a wide scale."
What is PFAS?
THE name of the group of chemicals referred to as per- and polyfluoroalkyl is known by the acronym PFAS.
They are a large, complex and ever-expanding group of manufactured chemicals and include perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).
These chemicals are compounds commonly used by manufacturers and industrial facilities to keep food from sticking to cookware, make clothes and carpets resistant to stains, and create firefighting foam that is more effective.
PFAS are used in industries such as aerospace, automotive, construction and electronics, as well as in the military.
PFAS molecules are made up of a chain of linked carbon and fluorine atoms. Because the carbon-fluorine bond is one of the strongest, these chemicals do not degrade in the environment.
They are present virtually everywhere, particularly in the environment and in species that inhabit it, including humans, said the United States' Environmental Protection Agency.