Participation
- DATE: 19, 20 and 21 October, 2026.
- TIME: 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm (EDT, Washington DC).
- OTHER TIME ZONES: 11:00 am - 2:00 pm: Central America.
- PLATFORM: ZOOM (with registration).
- LANGUAGES: English and Spanish.
Organize
Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Ibero-American Society of Environmental Health (SIBSA), with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Context
The fourteenth International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week will take place from 18 to 24 October 2026. This year’s campaign theme, From Detection to Prevention, highlights the fact that lead poisoning is often invisible, can arise from multiple sources, and must be identified before action can be taken to protect health, particularly the health of children.
Ibero-American Week
Latin America is not immune to the presence of lead as a global environmental contaminant. However, the region has specific characteristics regarding the sources and contexts of human exposure. Industrial, mining, and artisanal activities, both formal and informal, constitute significant sources of exposure and create diverse risk scenarios shaped by the productive, social, and environmental characteristics of each territory.
Despite the importance of this issue, research remains limited in terms of adequately assessing and characterizing lead exposure, particularly among children. This knowledge gap translates into insufficient capacity to identify exposed populations in a timely manner, ensure appropriate case management, and develop effective strategies for the prevention and control of lead poisoning.
To gain a better understanding of the activities being carried out across the Region of the Americas, a series of virtual seminars is being organized during International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week under the theme Lead in Latin America: From Detection to Prevention, with the objective of raising awareness about the health risks associated with lead exposure and promoting the timely identification of exposure sources, as well as the implementation of effective preventive measures, with a particular emphasis on protecting children.
Agenda
Topic
TBC
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