Matti Jantunen, prof.; Eva Kunseler, MSc.
Collaboration: The ENHIS projects are coordinated by World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, European Centre for Environment and Health, Bonn, Germany. Information on the 22 project partners and collaborating partners can be found on the homepage.
Funding: ENHIS is supported by EC DG SANCO, grant agreements SPC 2003112 and SPC 2004124
http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_projects/2004/action1/action1_2004_24_en.htm
Contact person: Matti Jantunen
Homepage:
http://www.enhis.org
Background:
Environmental health includes all aspects of human health and disease that are influenced by factors in the environment, ranging from the direct pathological effects of chemicals, radiation and some biological agents to the effects (often indirect) on health and wellbeing of the broad physical, psychological, social and environment. It also refers to the theory and practice of assessing and controlling factors in the environment that can potentially affect health. Recent evidence shows that in the pan-European Region as much as 14-19% of all disease is caused by environmental exposures which can be averted.
Objectives:
To reduce hazardous environmental exposures and their health effects, reliable information on population's health and the environment is essential for prioritizing, planning and evaluating national and local policies and interventions. The European Environment and Health Information System supports decision-makers, informs citizens and professionals, and facilitates the exchange of information, data, knowledge and good examples.
Project contribution KTL:
Inventory of selected environmental health policies in 18 European countries
The implementation of effective environmental health policy can lead to significant improvements in health and environmental conditions. National policies may both benefit a country and contribute more widely to the global situation. The key players at European level are the European Commission and WHO/Europe. At the national level, approaches to certain environmental health issues are directed EU-level regulations, while others vary by country. Country specific policy relevant information on exposures to environmental hazards, their determinants and health effects, as well as information on policy evaluation is collected with a questionnaire from 18 European countries and summarized into a policy information database. The selected environmental health policies assess the implementation of the Regional Priority Goals (RPGs) from the Children’s Environment and Health Action Plan (CEHAPE).
User guidance
The inventory of selected environmental health policies in 18 European countries is currently outlined in Microsoft Excel © format. The topic based policy information is structured into successive worksheets. Countries are alphabetically listed in rows. Apply the automatic filter to display the policy information from your country of interest. Please note that the database embodies work in progress. Absence of any policy and/or its supporting information for any country does not indicate absence of such policy or information, only that we have not obtained it for this database. Also, in spite of the fact that we have made some efforts to make the present answers comparable across the countries, there remain non-comparable responses and non-comparable details in the responses in particular.
Therefore, you can NOT use the information for the following purposes:
In spite of these important caveats, the database is a rich source of the different policy approaches that have been applied and policies that are in place in the European countries. The database can thus be used for searching policy alternatives for and benchmarking the policies in one’s own country.
You can access the policy database here (
link to xls)
The underlying questionnaire on environmental health policies is available here (
link to pdf)
Assessment of information needs in the environmental health policy making process
In order to achieve accountable policy making, information is needed to make possible the identification, formulation, selection and evaluation of policy objectives with suitable policy instruments and through collaboration among appropriate authorities. Information needs in terms of methods, tools, knowledge and data are specified for the international / (pan-)European policy level and the national policy level. Information needs assessment of international and (pan-)European environmental health policies is based on policy document analysis, while information needs in national environmental health policy making are derived from policy questionnaire implementation and analysis of experts’ responses. Furthermore, five policy case studies offer experiences of national officials and experts with policy initiation, formulation and implementation, and policy evaluation. Information needs assessment results from comparison of the findings with the concept of accountable policy making.
The ENHIS information needs assessment report is available on the Environment and health policy page of the
ENHIS homepage