%0 Journal Article
%T Children’s Environment in Brazil: From Domestic (Indoor) to Regional Threats
%A Christina Wyss Castelo Branco
%A Norma Helena Perlroth
%J International Pediatrics Journals| Child Care Journals| Peer Reviewed Articles
%D 2017
%X Background: This research has been carried out with Brazilian children living in heterogeneous environments and vulnerable to multiple factors that can interact and influence the likelihood of their exposure to harmful agents. A review focused on the impacts of threats from domestic indoor to outdoor environment on this children’s health was held. The assessment was based on scientific research produced from 1999 to 2013 and conducted exclusively in Brazil. We grouped the studies in three, the first one, considered as Home Life (HL) refers to the effects on children’s health of hazardous components related to the household area, related to two subthemes: unintentional ingestion of chemical compounds and home environmental pollution. Medications, cleaning products and pesticides were the most common agents of poisoning and parental smoking and the use of wood stove for cooking were directly responsible for respiratory diseases. The second group called Social (S) correlates socio-environmental factors focused on childhood diarrhea, geo-helminthiasis and urban sanitation conditions. Precarious households, lack of sewage system, improper waste management enhanced the importance of watertransmitted illness in children health. The third group, considered as Regional (R), exposes environmental chemical contaminations and biological agents as regional risk factors to child morbidity-mortality. Air pollution due to increased levels of PM10, SO2 and O3 were associated with higher prevalence of respiratory diseases, which can be also influenced by the region seasonality. Agrochemicals, mercury, arsenic and in special lead were considered potential risk factors to children’s health throughout the country. Infectious tropical diseases and accidental contacts with biological agents of pathologies for children were related to regional peculiarities. This review highlights that the occurrence of environmental exposed diseases in Brazilian children is extremely serious and not random, and it is possible to establish causal links and, thus, to define protection factors that must be considered by stakeholders and government to improve the quality of life of that age bracket. Key words: Child health; Environmental risks; Brazil; Developing countries
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