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Issue 61 / January 2014
PUBLISHED BY THE WHO DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH, ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH (PHE)
Worldwide,
13 million deaths
could be prevented
every year by
making our
environments
healthier
WHO EB discusses public health impacts of

mercury and climate change
The recent WHO Executive Board (EB) discussed the secretariat report on Public health
impacts of exposure to mercury and mercury compounds and the role of the WHO and
ministries of health in the implementation of the Minamata Convention on mercury. The
EB also issued a resolution that will be considered at the May 2014 World Health Assembly: The resolution encourages Member States and requests the WHO DirectorGeneral to take necessary steps with regard to the implementation of the Minamata
Convention and addressing the health aspects of mercury exposure.
The EB also noted the progress report on climate change and health, and Member
States requested WHO to revise and scale up its technical support to Member States,
with a particular focus on strengthening the climate resilience of health systems, and
linking to air pollution. Click here for all EB documentation.
Broadening perspectives beyond the health sector

UPCOMING
EVENTS
2014
> 22 March
World Water Day
> 28-30 April
World Day for Safety
and Health at Work
At the forthcoming Prince Mahidol Award Conference (PMAC), WHO will play a leading
role in the education for health professionals in the environmental and social determinants of health as a critical aspect of transformative learning. Such training can prepare health workers to prevent and treat root causes of disease in their day-to-day clinical practice as well as positioning future health leaders to interact with other sectors,
in support of sustainable development strategies that benefit health. As noted by the
2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD Rio+20: Health is a precondition for, an outcome of, and an indicator of all three dimensions of sustainable
development. Action on the social and environmental determinants of health, both for
the poor and the vulnerable and the entire population, is important to create inclusive,
equitable, economically productive and healthy societies. The Prince Mahidol Award
Conference is an annual international conference focusing on policy-related health issues of global significance.
International consultation on workers health

Experts will gather in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, from 28 to 30 April for an international consultation: Caring for all working people: Interventions, indicators and service
delivery. Coinciding with the International Day for Health and Safety at Work, the meeting will identify policy options, strategies and mechanisms to scale up workers health
coverage. The objective is to develop criteria and indicators for measuring the access of
workers to interventions for prevention and control of occupational and work-related
diseases and injuries. The meeting is also expected to draw an international road map
and voluntary targets for scaling up coverage of workers with preventive health services. Workers represent half the worlds population and are the major contributors to
economic and social development. Yet, only 15% of workers worldwide have access to
specialized occupational health services for advising employers and for providing assessment of occupational health risks, health surveillance, training in safe working
methods and first aid. Universal health coverage cannot be complete if all working people, particularly in informal settings, small enterprises, rural, agricultural and migrant
workers do not have access to the most needed health services to prevent occupational
and work-related diseases.
World Health Organization 2014. All rights reserved.
New publications on chemical safety

Publications from the WHO International Programme on Chemical Safety
(IPCS) promote the development and harmonization of scientifically sound
methodologies for the evaluation of risks to health from chemicals. The existing WHO/IPCS framework on mode of action and human relevance has been
widely adopted by many national and international organizations. A new publication updates this framework based on the experience of the past eight
years, and extends the frameworks scope to cover a broader range of applications, including emerging areas in toxicity testing methods.
Age- and life stage-related changes in behaviour and physiology are important
considerations in chemical risk assessment. A new publication summarizes
these factors, and proposes a harmonized set of early life age ranges for monitoring and assessing risks from chemicals.
Using evidence from GLAAS to formulate

sanitation and water commitments
A recent meeting of the Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) Partnership focused on preparations for the next high-level meeting using evidence generated by the Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water
(GLAAS) initiative. The information from GLAAS participating countries enhances the understanding of linkages between water, sanitation and economic
growth, and promotes a culture of mutual accountability, partnership and
shared responsibility. Country profiles help governments to formulate relevant,
high priority, achievable, specific, measurable and time-bound commitments to
feed into higher level processes. The second SWA Partnership meeting took
place in Geneva, Switzerland on 1113 November 2013, and was hosted by
the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation.
Household water treatment and safe

storage in West Africa
Indoor air
pollution and
health
Around 3 billion people cook
and heat their homes using
open fires and leaky stoves
burning biomass (wood, animal dung and crop waste)
and coal.
Nearly 2 million people die

prematurely each year from
illness attributable to indoor
air pollution from household
solid fuel use.
Nearly 50% of pneumonia

deaths among children under
five are due to particulate
matter inhaled from indoor air
pollution.
More than 1 million people a

year die from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
(COPD) that develops due to
exposure to indoor air pollution.
Both women and men exposed to heavy indoor smoke

are 23 times more likely to
develop COPD.
Read the full fact sheet
The Government of Ghana, in partnership with the United Nations Childrens

Fund, WHO and the University of North Carolina, hosted a regional workshop
on household water treatment and safe storage for four West African countries
(Gambia, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone). The workshop was part of a global
effort to scale up household water treatment and safe storage (HWTS) into relevant national water and health policies, and strengthening evaluation and regulation of treatment methods.
SELECTED HEALTH TOPICS FROM

WHOS PUBLIC HEALTH AND
ENVIRONMENT WEB SITES
NEW PUBLICATIONS
AND VIDEOS
Climate change and health
Bringing health to people health successes in 2013
Ionizing radiation in emergencies

Health and environment: Communicating
the risks.
Water, sanitation and health
REGIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH AND

ENVIRONMENT LINKS
WHO Regional Office for Africa
WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia
WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific
WHO Regional Office for the Americas
WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean
WHO Regional Office for Europe
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Issue 61 / January 2014

WHO EB discusses public health impacts of

Broadening perspectives beyond the health sector

International consultation on workers health

World Health Organization 2014. All rights reserved.

New publications on chemical safety

Using evidence from GLAAS to formulate

Household water treatment and safe

Nearly 2 million people die

Nearly 50% of pneumonia

More than 1 million people a

Both women and men exposed to heavy indoor smoke

The Government of Ghana, in partnership with the United Nations Childrens

SELECTED HEALTH TOPICS FROM

Climate change and health

Bringing health to people health successes in 2013

Ionizing radiation in emergencies

Water, sanitation and health

REGIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH AND

Invite a friend, colleague,

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