Who Should Attend

  • Public health officials, academicians, educators, physicians, medical personnel, and federal and state legislators who have interest in environmental factors which impact children’s health, specifically lead toxicity and asthma;
  • Administrators, managers, and technical experts from local, state and federal agencies dealing with health, the environment, housing, and building code enforcement;
  • Non-governmental organizations involved in health, the environment, and housing issues;
  • Representatives of foundations and companies with interest in asthma and lead poisoning;

Sponsors, Local Planning, and Technical Advisory Committee

  • School of Public Health, University of Michigan
  • National Black Environmental Justice Network
  • Alliance for Healthy Homes
  • HealthPlus of Michigan
  • GlaxoSmithKline
  • Delta College, University Center, MI
  • Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice
  • American Lung Association of Michigan
  • Field Neurosciences Institute-St. Mary’s of Michigan (FNI)
  • Saginaw County Health Department
  • CLEARCorps/LEAP Detroit
  • Select Specialties Hospital
  • Michigan Association of Health Plans
  • Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network
Location

St. Mary's of Michigan
Health Education Center
800 S. Washington Ave.
Saginaw, MI 48601
Conference Goals

The conference will provide a multidisciplinary forum to discuss and promote methods to protect our children from environmental conditions that are responsible for multiple diseases and injuries, specifically asthma and lead poisoning. The goals of the conference include:
  1. Exploring the nature and extent of co-existing lead poisoning and asthma especially among children in this country;
  2. Promoting the development of research agenda concerning the determinants of children comorbid with lead poisoning and asthma,
  3. Identifying possible best practices to reduce the conjoined risk factors and triggers for lead poisoning and asthma,
  4. Identifying policy and market initiatives to promote lead-safe and asthma-safe homes for our children.
Saginaw, MI

The City of Saginaw is pleased to provide a forum for scientists, public health officials, and community-based organizations to address the comorbidity of two of the most common childhood diseases in our urban areas. Like other urban areas in the country, this city has many neighborhoods that are at a high risk area for both childhood asthma and lead poisoning. Average blood lead level for children in the 48607 zip code still remains above 10 µg/dL. A recent study found that about 47% of the children in some neighborhoods lived at addresses where there had been an incidence of a child with blood lead level above 10 µg/dL and a family member had been diagnosed with asthma. In these communities, children with lead poisoning are about three times more likely to have asthma. With such high prevalence rates for the two morbidities, the city of Saginaw and the State of Michigan are struggling to find effective environmental and clinical interventions against lead poisoning and asthma among its childhood population.