Children's Environmental Health in Thailand: Past, Present, and Future

Non-carcinogenic health risk from carbamate pesticide exposure of toddlers living in agricultural areas of Thailand

Toddlers in agricultural areas may be athave risk from pesticide exposure . A cross-sectional study was conducted with 130 toddlers and their caregivers. Face-to-face interviews were done to gather information about exposure factors. A wipe sampling technique was used to collect carbamate residues on each toddler's hands and feet. Results showed that there were carbamate residues on all wipe samples (100%), with a median concentration of 30.47 micrograms per sample (hands and feet). Carbamate residues detected on toddlers' hands and feetwere significantly associated (p < 0.05) with many factors, including the toddlers' relationships with caregivers, the education level of caregivers, the household incomes, the gender of toddlers, the frequency of following caregivers to farms, the frequency of foot washing, daytime activities, and playing durations. The health risk from dermal carbamate exposurewas above the acceptable range (HI = 3.244). Preventive measures should be considered to reduce toddlers' pesticide exposure in agricultural areas.

Associations between indoor environment in residential buildings in wet and dry seasons and health of students in upper northern Thailand

We performed a repeated questionnaire study on home environment and health (six medical symptoms) in 1159 junior high school students (age 12.8 ± 0.7 years) in upper northern Thailand in wet and dry seasons. Data on outdoor temperature, relative humidity (RH), and air pollution were collected from nearest monitoring station. Odds ratios (OR) were calculated by multi-level logistic regression. Most common symptoms were rhinitis (62.5%), headache (49.8%), throat (42.8%), and ocular symptoms (42.5%). Ocular symptoms were more common at lower RH and rhinitis more common in dry season. Water leakage (28.2%), indoor mold (7.1%), mold odor (4.1%), and windowpane condensation (13.6%) were associated with all six symptoms (ORs: 1.3-3.5). Other risk factors included cat keeping, environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), other odor than mold odor, gas cooking, and cooking with biomass fire. Biomass burning inside and outside the home for other reasons than cooking was associated with all six symptoms (ORs: 1.5-2.6). Associations between home environment exposure and rhinitis were stronger in wet season. In conclusion, dampness-related exposure, windowpane condensation, cat keeping, ETS, gas cooking, and biomass burning can impair adolescent health in upper northern Thailand. In subtropical areas, environmental health effects should be investigated in wet and dry seasons.

Thailand: country report on children's environmental health

Thailand is the home of 66.4 million people of which 17.21% are children aged 0-14 years. The total population of children has decreased from 20.23% in 2009 to 17.21% in 2018. The mortality ratio of infants and children under 5 years of age has also steadily decreased between 2008 and 2017. Urbanization, globalization, and industrialization appear to be the main contributors to the transition from infectious to chronic non-communicable diseases. The main types of environmental exposure to children are water, sanitation and hygiene, air pollution from traffic in inner cities, chemical hazards from pesticides which result from agricultural activities in countryside areas, heavy metal contaminants such as lead and arsenic from anthropogenic activities, e.g. from industrial zones, mining, electronic appliance waste, and ongoing climate change. It is concluded that economic development and rapid urbanization in Thailand have resulted in environmental degradation and pose a risk to children's health. Future development and implementation of measures to improve children's environmental health (CEH) in the country are needed. Some examples include research specific to environmental threats to children's health; international environmental health networks to share experience and expertise; and solutions to solve the problems.