Environmental Health Services in Europe 6 The Development of Professional Associations

In the European Region, there is a diverse range of professionals engaged in promoting environmental health issues for the benefit of the public health. They work in state authorities, local government, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector. All have a common purpose and very often have common or complementary knowledge and skills. In some European countries, environmental health professionals have organized themselves into associations, but in the majority, such associations are not well established and have not realized their full potential in civil society. Given the increasing awareness of the general population and the emergence of specialized groups, there is a need for new means of communication that will ensure a constructive dialogue among professionals, decision-makers at political level, the economic sector and the general public. In this rapidly changing world, environmental health professionals must constantly adapt their practices, knowledge, and skills. In this respect, all partners at national and international level acknowledge the importance of professional associations. This publication strives to bring together the collective experience of a range of existing associations of environmental health, while also providing the basic information that will be of particular value to an emerging association or to groups of professionals aspiring to develop such associations. The book attempts to provide a means by which groups of environmental health professionals can formulate their own template for developing associations that clearly represent their particular interests and ethos, within a framework whereby they can find common purpose with other professionals at national and international level.Fitzpatrick, Martin is the author of 'Environmental Health Services in Europe 6 The Development of Professional Associations' with ISBN 9789289013611 and ISBN 9289013613.