Educational Activities of Environment Section at APHA Annual Meeting

University Of South Carolina At Columbia, Columbia SC

Investigators

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Project Summary. The138th Annual Meeting and Exposition of the American Public Health Association (APHA) will be held from November 6 - 10 in Denver, Colorado. The theme for this year's conference, with an anticipated 12,000 in attendance, is Social Justice: A Public Health Imperative. While the APHA is a large organization, it relies on its 27 sections to plan most of its conference sessions and special events. The Environment Section of the APHA, in its 99th year, is focusing its annual meeting agenda on environmental public health and social justice issues, particularly how social injustice can lead to negative environmental conditions and outcomes for disadvantaged, vulnerable, and underserved populations. Its call for full session proposals and abstracts focused on the overall theme of social justice, and on the Section's emphasis on social justice issues as related to environmental public health. Ultimately the Section strives to offer a wide variety of sessions, posters, plenary sessions, and special events to a diverse audience, representing academicians, health professionals, community members, and students, especially those from underrepresented groups. The Environment Section has the following aims for its educational activities at the 138th APHA Annual Meeting: 1)to educate conference participants about research on environmental public health issues related to social justice;2)to increase collaborations between community groups, health professionals, and academicians through its program activities, especially sessions in which scientists and community members can share ideas and discuss common goals;3)to educate students, especially those from underserved and minority communities, about social justice, environmental justice, and environmental health, encouraging them to pursue careers in public health research and practice and 4) to provide a forum for dissemination of results about research in social justice, environmental justice, and environmental health. The Environment Section's agenda for the Annual Meeting will benefit participants greatly, from community members who will have the opportunity to network with other community groups and with environmental health scientists, to students who will have the ability to connect with potential mentors, and to researchers who will learn about community- based environmental justice initiatives. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The program for the Environment Section at the 2010 American Public Health Association Annual Meeting will greatly benefit participants, particularly community members and students from underserved populations, who will have the opportunity to learn about community-driven efforts to address environmental justice and health issues;community-university partnerships for environmental health;how to build community capacity to address environmental health and justice issues;and best practices associated with effective community based participatory research efforts.