Resumo em Inglês:

ISSUE. There has been much recent discussion on the funding of medical education. There has also been much discussion about the funding of higher education more generally. EVIDENCE. The topics of discussion have included the rising costs of education; who should pay; the various potential models of funding; and how best to ensure maximum returns from investment. IMPLICATIONS. Medical education has largely followed the emerging models of funding for higher education. However there are important reasons why the funding models for higher education may not suit medical education. These reasons include the fact that medical education is as important to the public as it is to the learner; the range of funding sources available to medical schools; the strict regulation of medical education; and the fact that the privatisation and commercialisation of higher education may not been in keeping with the social goals of medical schools and the agenda of diversification within the medical student population.

Resumo em Inglês:

The adoption of multidisciplinary approaches to foster scientific research in public health and strengthen its impact on society is nowadays unavoidable. Environmental health literacy (EHL) may be defined as the ability to search for, understand, evaluate, and use environmental health information to promote the adoption of informed choices, the reduction of health risks, the improvement of quality of life and the protection of the environment. Both public health and environmental health literacy involve access to and dissemination of scientific information (including research findings), individual and collective decision-making and critical thinking. Specific experiences in environmental health literacy have been developed within the Italian National Asbestos Project (Progetto Amianto) in Latin American countries where the use of asbestos is still permitted, and in Italy where a specific effort in EHL has been dedicated to the risks caused by the presence of fluoro-edenite fibers in the town of Biancavilla (Sicily). Taking into account the different geographical and socio-economic contexts, both public health and environmental health literacy were addressed to a wide range of stakeholders, within and outside the health domain.