4.1 5
THE FUNDAMENTALS OF LIFE
By Maria Neira, director, and Annette Prüss, unit head, policies and interventions, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, World Health Organization
Healthier environments: a requirement for better health and safety Protecting people’s health through healthier environments requires bold political and collective action and systemic change, and public support – and it can only be done through regulatory frameworks that set clear standards and enforce compliance H ealthier environments could prevent a quarter of all deaths worldwide. Seven million deaths each year are due to air for healthier environments for healthier populations, through several streams of work: •
occupational risks are decreasing globally, the rate is increasing for ambient air pollution. But there are the unknowns: these figures cover health impacts that can currently be quantified with reasonable (un)certainty. To a large extent, health impacts from climate change, biodiversity loss and most chemicals cannot yet be quantified. Yet these are the impacts that are rising, with climate change, biodiversity loss and use of chemicals progressing. We can even say they are potentially catastrophic if the next pathogen spilling over into humans is more devastating than the last one, and climate change takes a less optimistic path. The World Health Organization has been actively advocating and supporting governments
Creating a demand for action through raising awareness, including with politicians and decision makers at all levels, stakeholder groups and communities; Developing policy and technical guidance and tools and strengthening capacity for their implementation in countries in all sectors; Fostering and supporting international agreements and commitments; and
pollution, 800,000 deaths to unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene, and 2 million to selected chemicals. The largest health gains from creating healthier environments can be made in non-communicable diseases (notably cardiovascular diseases and chronic respiratory infections) and injuries. While the death rates from water, sanitation and hygiene, household air pollution due to unclean fuels and technologies and diseases), but also in several infectious diseases (such as diarrhoea and respiratory
•
•
• Monitoring progress for better targeting of actions. In the area of climate change, the WHO has been voicing health concerns
54
Health: A Political Choice – from fragmentation to integration
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online