This joint publication of IIED and Irish Aid is part of a series that aims to clarify the links between the environment, climate change and key development sectors, and provide guidance on strategies available for mainstreaming the environment and climate change into national policies. The briefing says that bearly one quarter of the global disease burden can be attributed to the environment, playing a part in more than 80 major diseases and injuries. Indoor air pollution, vector-borne disease, limited access to clean water and sanitation and poor land management are among the biggest killers, costing more than 100 million disability-adjusted life years every year. Changing climates are set to worsen the problem — by 2030, an estimated 310 million people are expected to have suffered ill health from climate change. Nine out of ten of these people will be in developing countries. Improving environmental health — raising its profile at national, state and local levels, and integrating environmental health issues into development plans and activities — is critical if we are to reduce poverty and meet the Millennium Development Goals.
The key solutions the paper proposes are as follows:
- Aligning health and environment policies
- Investing in research and development
- Taxing environmentally polluting industries
- Strengthening and updating legislation to be based on a framework in which environment and health issues are linked.
- Communication and education about the links between environment and health (health workers, journalists, government departments, researchers)
- Internal integration: integration of environmental health and climate change into objectives of health focused organisations
- Stakeholder participation, especially by those most vulnerable to the health effects of climate change
You can download the paper here.
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