For more than half the world's children, their health and often their lives are constantly threatened by environment hazards - in their home and its surrounds and in the places they play and work. Environmental hazards cause or contribute to many million child deaths each year and to serious illness or injury for another 150 million children. Children are particularly vulnerable to the state of their environment - and their health is an index of its quality. But their wellbeing is rarely given priority by governments or aid agencies. Ironically, most of the problems can be traced back to matters that are easily resolved, usually at low cost such as polluted drinking water, unsafe housing, or infectious diseases that are easily prevented or cured.

This book gives a multidisciplinary account of the environmental health hazards threatening children and the range of impacts they can have. It looks at the social, economic and political factors behind the problems, and explains what can be done, by communities as well as governments and aid workers, to provide safe and healthy environments for children. The authors look at conditions in both rural and urban areas in the South, as well as pollutants and other health problems affecting children in the North.