The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has recently released reports on: "Global Environmental Health: Research Gaps and Barriers for Providing Sustainable Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Services"; "Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 2008"; and "The U.S. Oral Health Workforce in the Coming Decade: Workshop Summary." Information on each of these reports is available below:

• Global Environmental Health: Research Gaps and Barriers for Providing Sustainable Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Services
  Humans rely on water, but the rapidly growing human population along with heightened urbanization and poor water management has led to a global water crisis. Increasingly limited water resources and severely limited access to safe drinking water worldwide highlights a global imperative to ensure universal and sustainable access to clean water. The Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research and Medicine held a workshop on October 17-18, 2007, to stimulate efforts in the urgent issue and reversal of poor water quality, management and policy.
  Click here to for more information and to download the report.
  
  
• Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 2008
  From 1962 to 1971, U.S. military sprayed herbicides over Vietnam. Because of continuing uncertainty about the long-term health effects of the sprayed herbicides on Vietnam veterans, Congress passed the Agent Orange Act of 1991. The legislation directed the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to request the Institute of Medicine to perform a comprehensive evaluation of scientific and medical information regarding the health effects of exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides used in Vietnam. Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 2008 is the eighth report in this series.
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• The U.S. Oral Health Workforce in the Coming Decade. Workshop Summary
  The current oral health workforce fails to meet the needs of many segments of the U.S. population.  This variability in access to oral health services is often related to geography, insurance status, socio-demographic characteristics, and income levels. The Institute of Medicine hosted a workshop on February 9-11, 2009, jointly sponsored by the California HealthCare Foundation and the Health Resources and Services Administration to discuss these issues.
  Click here for more information and to download the report.