Ms. Patricia Hynes, professor of environmental health at the Boston University School of Public Health, presented findings of an eight-year research and demonstration project on integrated pest management (IPM) in Boston public housing at the recent National Healthy Homes conference in Baltimore, MD. Researchers studying the homes of 10,000 public housing residents over the past 2 ½ years found that IPM techniques cut pest problems by an average of 55 percent.

The researchers also found that reducing the presence of cockroaches in the home leads to improved respiratory health in asthmatic children.

At the conference, Ms. Hynes also moderated a panel on translating healthy housing research into practice. The panel focused on the Healthy Public Housing Initiative (HPHI), a multi-year project designed to improve the health of Boston public housing residents, particularly children with asthma—a project Ms. Hynes helped to launch. HPHI successfully improved environmental conditions and health, empowered residents through training and employment, and led to changes in housing authority practices.

"HPHI and the subsequent demonstration project have been described by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as the 'gold standard' for the country in environmentally-sound pest control in public housing," said Ms. Hynes.

Other major cities, such as Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, which have large public-housing populations, serious pest-control problems and high asthma rates, are considering taking approaches similar to those carried out by HPHI, Ms. Hynes reported.

The Boston University School of Public Health is one of several partners in HPHI, a community-university-city collaboration.

More information is available at http://sph.bu.edu/insider/.