3.1.2 Countries enabled to address environmental determinants of health, including climate change

Scorecard

The output delivery team discussion on the scorecard concluded that satisfactory work has been demonstrated for the leadership dimension. Under value-for-money, the Secretariat performed well, while noting that ethics are a major criterion which, in the face of limited resources, requires country prioritization, particularly to protect the most vulnerable. Regarding technical support, the output delivery team acknowledged that well-planned, tailored technical assistance was provided both in support of regularly planned activities and in response to emergencies and acute situations but that the COVID-19 pandemic had changed how country-level work was undertaken, limiting the Secretariat’s ability to deliver fully. Increased financial and human resources for this dimension would allow for greater scale-up of activities in countries. Wider impact monitoring is also needed. The output delivery team noted that the Secretariat had relatively low scores for the gender, equity and human rights dimension and pointed out that limitations in data availability sometimes hamper disaggregated reporting and clarification.

Achievements and challenges

In 2020 Secretariat work to deliver Output 3.1.2 included a number of initiatives that contributed to the COVID-19 response including the Hand Hygiene for All Global Initiative and development of guidance on occupational health and safety, radiation-based imaging for COVID-19 management and the role of water and sanitation in COVID-19 infection control and prevention. While some resources had to be redirected to other areas of the COVID-19 response, the pandemic also led to the existing environmental health programme being adapted to provide new services around response and recovery.

All regions worked to achieve benchmarks that cut across health and environment. Information and guidance on COVID-19-related health and environment issues on topics such as hygiene, transport and mobility, wastewater surveillance and hot weather were developed in the African, Eastern Mediterranean and Western Pacific regions. In the European and Western Pacific regions, WHO encouraged country-level capacity building in environment and health while in the Region of the Americas, and the South-East Asia and Western Pacific regions, WHO supported raising awareness of health and environment issues across sectors. In the South-East Asia Region, a national platform for environment and health was rolled out, with advocacy and technical support from WHO and United Nations Environment Programme.

Country-level training exercises on air pollution and noncommunicable diseases were carried out in the African and South-East Asia Regions. Specific community interventions were also undertaken in the South-East Asia Region to improve indoor air quality. Work in chemical safety also progressed, with local health risk assessments in the African Region and training sessions in risk assessment, management and communications in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. WHO supported the development of country-level action plans on climate change and health in the Region of the Americas and in the African and Western Pacific Regions. Guidelines to reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission across the food chain were developed by the South-East Asia Regional Office.

At headquarters level, WHO released the WHO manifesto for a healthy recovery from COVID-19 and launched the Health and Energy Platform of Action (HEPA), focused on air pollution and health. WHO provided guidance for setting up poison centres and recommendations for classification of pesticides by hazard. The WHO operational framework for building climate resilient health systems served as a template to provide support to 19 country projects: over US$ 80 million have been mobilized in total, of which more than US$ 20 million are earmarked for Small Island Developing States. WHO and the International Labour Organization (ILO) developed evidence and estimates on the disease burden caused by occupational risks.