On April 22-23, the AUA School of Public Health hosted a two-day technical review workshop for the European Union (EU) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) project “Improving capacities to eliminate and prevent recurrence of obsolete pesticides as a model for tackling unused hazardous chemicals in the former Soviet Union.”
The two-day workshop focused on presentation of the Rapid Environmental Assessment protocol that will be used to evaluate contaminated sites. The participants received training in the Rapid Environmental Assessment methodology including technical sessions on environmental sampling, relevant health issues, hazards and risks associated with site assessments and other issues relevant to the assessment process. During the second day of the workshop, participants visited a site contaminated by obsolete pesticides and conducted a demonstration assessment. The workshop brought together government and non-government participants: experts from Blacksmith Institute, EU, and FAO, representatives from the Ministries of Health, Emergency Situations, Nature Protection and Agriculture, NGOs, and investigators from AUA School of Public Health (28 participants).
Under this program sites contamination by obsolete pesticides will be prioritized based on suspected risks to human health. The project will conduct rapid risk assessment in ten priority sites to better understand the severity of the risks. Based on the results of these assessments several sites in the former Soviet Union will be selected for more detailed analysis of the risks and the formulation of remediation plans.
The AUA School of Public Health works actively to improve the health of the populace and health services in Armenia and the region through interdisciplinary education and development of public health professionals and others to be leaders in public health, health services research and evaluation, and health care delivery and management.
Workshop participants |
Khatuna Akhalaia and participants of the |
Barbara Jones and participants of the workshop |
Andrew McCartor and participants of the |