At the First Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health in Frankfurt, Germany, held 7–8 December 1989, Member States of the WHO European Region initiated the first ever process to eliminate the most significant environmental threats to human health. That same European Environment and Health Process (EHP) is now marking 30 years since its establishment, with a birthday celebration during the ninth meeting of the European Environment and Health Task Force (EHTF) on 9–10 December 2019 in Bonn, Germany.
In 2017, the declaration of the sixth and most recent ministerial conference on environment and health, held in Ostrava, Czechia, identified seven key priority areas for action, and committed to enhance action at the national level through the development of national portfolios for action on environment and health. Notwithstanding the important progress that has been achieved over the past three decades, six of the seven priorities identified in Ostrava still closely reflect the regional priorities identified 30 years ago in Frankfurt. This indicates that there is no room for complacency and that there is a need for additional efforts to overcome the challenges in environment and health that persist in the Region in terms of:
- improved indoor and outdoor air quality;
- ensuring universal, equitable and sustainable access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene;
- minimizing the adverse effects of chemicals on human health and the environment;
- preventing and eliminating the adverse environmental and health effects, costs and inequalities related to waste management and contaminated sites;
- strengthening adaptive capacity and resilience to health risks related to climate change and supporting measures to mitigate climate change;
- supporting the efforts of European cities and regions to become healthier and more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable; and
- building the environmental sustainability of health systems.
This meeting of the EHTF will reflect on the 30 years of experience of the EHP, and further support the Member States in the development and implementation of national portfolios of action on environment and health. The meeting will also offer a platform for the exchange of experiences and the challenges and solutions that were identified through this process.
“I am delighted that today we can reflect on the history of the process, and the lessons we have learned through its implementation,” notes Dr Piroska Östlin, WHO Regional Director for Europe ad interim. “We should steer its work so that it remains relevant to the Member States in the era of the Sustainable Development Goals.”
AirQ+ version 2.0
At the ninth meeting of the EHTF, WHO/Europe is launching two new tools to support the work of Member States on two important areas of the Ostrava agenda.
Globally, air pollution is the largest single environmental health risk and a leading cause of disease and death. Quantifying the public health effects of exposure to air pollution has become critical to policy discussions. To support this important component of policy-making, WHO/Europe developed the software tool AirQ+ to calculate the health effects of exposure to air pollution, including estimates of the reduction in life expectancy. During the EHTF meeting, the new and improved AirQ+ version 2.0 will be launched, fully available in English, French and Russian, and with expanded functionality. Long-term collaboration with Santé Publique France and the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME) on air pollution led to the adaptation of the latest version of AirQ+ to improve the consideration of public health in the development of policies on air pollution. It has been tested in nine French cities and areas.
Resource package on environmental health inequalities
Avoiding inequalities in environmental risk exposure is a crosscutting commitment by Member States, as laid down in the Ostrava declaration. Published earlier this year, an assessment of the status of environmental health inequalities within the countries of the European Region aims to help Member States in identifying national inequality priorities.
To support countries in taking action against disparities in exposure to environmental risks at the national and subnational levels, a specific resource package on environmental health inequalities will be launched at the EHTF meeting. The resource package defines the concept of environmental health inequalities and sets out the various dimensions of inequality. It presents relevant methods, tools and approaches for monitoring and assessing environmental health inequalities and suggests ways to use this evidence for action.