More Information on the Congress:
Introduction:
The African continent has increasingly been affected by various environmental health challenges. A great proportion of the health problems in this region are today environmentally linked. Whereas, various efforts have been made, continue to be made to mitigate these factors, such interventions have largely been from the greater medical perspective. Little emphasis has been put on disease prevention and the various environmental health aspects that affect human health. One of the major challenges has been the very low levels of environmental health awareness and the lack of sustainable strategies for environmental health controls.

During our last meeting in Mombasa, Kenya the African group of the federation decided to organize a regional congress on environmental health in August 2007. It was also agreed that the Association of Public Health Officers Kenya would host the conference in Nairobi, Kenya. The dates of the conference will be the 27th to 30th August 2007, venue will KICC, Nairobi, and the conference theme will be ‘The Sustainable Development of Environmental Health in Africa’. Several sub themes were also agreed upon as illustrated in this document, which also contains other agenda and the organization process targeted towards the congress success.

Vision
The vision of this congress is the improvement of the standards of environmental health in Africa.
Congress Objectives
The following will be the objectives of the congress:

• Raise the profile of environmental health in Africa.
• Sharing best practices of environmental health services delivery in Africa
• Enhance inter-country collaboration in environmental health practice.
• Addressing the training needs of environmental health
• Promote the children environmental health needs in Africa.
• Promote environmental health research.

Targeted participants.
This congress will target various groups of specialists, managers, students, practitioners, entrepreneurs, and leaders involved either directly or indirectly with environmental health science, practice and research. Various environmental health agencies are encouraged to send participants. Among the specific target groups are the following:

1. WHO Afro
2. Tthe United Cities of Local Government Associations(Africa)
3. Ministries of Health and Environment in Africa
4. Public health officers/environmental health practitioners, technicians, students
5. Local authorities
6. Water quality experts
7. Pollution control specialists and agencies
8. Environmental consultancy firms
9. Environmental Impact assessors/auditors
10. Quality assurance officers
11. Food safety specialists and inspectors
12. Biomedical and health scientists and students
13. Disaster managers
14. Occupational health and safety inspectors/specialists
15. Community health care providers,
16. Health managers
17. Public health and environmental health law enforcers
18. Chemical engineers and safety specialists
19. Urban planners
20. Environmental engineers
21. Housing inspectors
22. Child health officers
23. Climate change experts
24. All other persons directly or indirectly involved in environmental health and safety.

Congress sub-themes (elements):
During the congress the following items will be considered, discussed and deliberated upon:

1. Water and Sanitation
2. Environmental Pollution
3. Environmental Health Diseases
4. Waste Management
5. Disaster Management
6. Risk Management
7. Food Safety
8. Research
9. Occupational Health and Safety
10. Policy and Legislation
11. Management Practice.
12. Chemical Safety
13. Housing and Informal Settlements
14. Children and Environmental Health
15. Urban and Rural Development
16. Climate change
17. Environmental Health Training and Development.

Congress duration and venue
The congress will be conducted over a period of 4 days. The venue will be at KICC, Nairobi. between the 27th and 30th August 2007. IFEH council meeting will be on 25th -26th August 2007 also at KICC, Nairobi.

Congress Medium
A combination of communication media will be used for the congress. The main method will be oral presentation and poster presentations organized in thematic sessions. Large group and Plenary sessions will be included for major pertinent issues. In addition, the following techniques will be used:
1. Focused group discussions
2. Invited addresses.
3. Exhibitions
4. Local field visits organized

Abstract submission:
Interested participants should submit abstracts not later than 30th June 2007 on any of the sub themes of the congress.