Environmental risks to health
Mum watching child climbing rope frame
Healthy urban environments
Rapid urbanization around the globe has led to an ever more critical role for cities to play in protecting and enhancing their citizens' health. Health is an asset and cornerstone for sustainable urban development. Urban health is influenced by a range of personal, social, economic and environmental determinants including housing, transport, urban planning, lead paint, green spaces, air pollution and climate change.
WHO is responding by building the capacity of the health sector to effectively engage in urban health, working across sectors to support cities to produce contextual, meaningful and actionable information on the health, economic and climate impacts of urban environments. WHO offers tools and resources to enable cities to make the case for investments in interventions which effectively address environmental risks to health. WHO also works to build networks of urban health practitioners to exchange best practices, and advocate for scaling up the implementation of health-enhancing urban policies.
When health is prioritized as a catalyst and goal of development strategies, cities have a unique opportunity to address several determinants of health under one administrative jurisdiction, producing multiple benefits for health, the environment and sustainable economic development.
Featured publication
Publications
All →
This publication provides an overview of evidence and guidance on the growing challenge of workplace heat stress in the context of climate change. It highlights...
Health system strengthening interventions to improve the health of displaced and migrant populations...
This is the seventh report in the Global Evidence Review on Health and Migration (GEHM) series. The publication examines how health systems are responding...
This is the 2024 update of the Compendium of WHO and other UN guidance on health and environment. The Compendium is a comprehensive collection of available...
While climate change is a big threat to health, implementing solutions to address climate change presents a huge opportunity to promote better health and...
Compendium of WHO and other UN guidance on health and environment: version with International Classification...
In this version of the compendium, each guidance is coded using the International Classification of Health Interventions (ICHI).The compendium provides...
National climate hazard indices for health: WHO technical report
This technical report outlines the methodology used in the selection and development of climate hazard indices for use in the country profiles.