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International Activities

The Centre for Radiation, Chemicals and Environmental Hazards hosts two units at Cardiff. The remit of the office based at University Wales Institute, Cardiff is to manage the WHO Collaborating Centre for the Public Health Management of Chemical Incidents. The other office is the International Research and Development group, located at Cardiff University hospital. A description of their activities follows below. 

WHO Collaborating Centre for the Public Health Management of Chemical Incidents

The WHO Collaborating Centre for the Public Health Management of Chemical Incidents is located in Cardiff and is part of the Health Protection Agency Chemical Hazards and Poisons Division. The centre works together with the  World Health Organization and the European Union member states, to provide guidance on the public health management of chemical incidents so that they are prepared in the event of a major incident. The remit of the WHO Collaborating Centre is:

"To provide support for the public health management of chemical incidents (including deliberate use of chemicals to cause harm), notably with regard to incident preparedness and response, including incident and disease surveillance and follow-up of health consequences of chemical incidents".

A key part of this involves training, providing standard instructions and collecting and sharing information amongst member states to help them plan for future incidents. Any problems identified in dealing with the incidents are also shared so lessons can be learned.

International Chemical Incident Support

In addition to its research activities, the WHO Collaborating Centre provides advice and training support internationally concerning the public health management of chemical incidents. Examples of recent training events and workshops include:

  • Hosting a workshop on medical countermeasures and stockpiles in Geneva in January 2007 to explore the need for rapid response to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) incidents.
  • A 2-day training day on the public health management of acute chemical incidents was held in Beijing in April 2007.
  • A one day International workshop on "the development of Generic Scenarios, alerting system and training modules relating to release of Chemicals by Terrorists (GSCT)" in London, in June 2007. The purpose of the meeting was to provide high level public policy makers from across Europe with an overview of this project and highlight how this information can be used by Member States to improve national emergency planning, preparedness response and recovery in relation to deliberate chemical releases.

for further information, please email the following address: whocc@hpa.org.uk

 

International Research and Development Group

The International Research and Development group is involved in a number of international research programmes and projects, contributing to specific technical areas within each project. International research projects that the WHO Collaborating Centre are involved with contribute to the overall aims of:

  • harmonising the way information is collected on chemical incidents across Europe;
  • developing surveillance and alerting systems for chemicals that may be released (intentionally or unintentionally) as a result of a chemical incident; and
  • developing training and guidance to improve health service response in the event of a chemical incident.

Further information about each of the projects that the WHO Collaborating Centre is currently involved with can be found by following the links below

Ongoing Research Projects

Completed Research Projects

Other Activities

In addition to the chemical surveillance and health threat work that the IRnD group is involved with, it is also actively engaged in other research projects including the development of a Children's Environment and Health Strategy for the UK.

International Research and Development Group

Health Protection Agency
5th Floor, Neuadd Meirionnydd
Heath Park
Cardiff
CF14 4YS


 

External Links