Building capacity in environment and health

WHO/Europe aims to strengthen national capacities to deal with environment and health issues in Europe by mainstreaming training in environment and health among public health workers, environmental experts, academics and other stakeholders.

Multicountry project "Capacity building in environment and health"

A portfolio of products was developed within this project, which was co-funded by the European Commission. The project addressed 8 countries from central and eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia), however its products can also benefit other countries.

Project workshops promoted key strategic frameworks, such as WHO ministerial declarations, to improve countries’ response to current and emerging challenges in the area of environment and health.

Additional project activities contributed to the implementation of commitments taken at the 2010 Parma Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health in the area of country support related to Health Impact Assessment.

Project workshops

• National training workshops for Estonia and Slovenia (June 2012)
  These workshops assisted countries in further developing resources and tools and in the application of modern methodologies, such as health impact assessments, environmental impact assessments and strategic environmental assessments of projects, plans, programmes or policies, to analyse the interactions between the environment and health and to integrate health into environmental assessments. 
• International capacity-building workshop on environment and health (Riga, Latvia, 19-23 March 2012).
  This training was attended by 70 participants from 8 countries.

Products

• Framework for inclusion of dedicated environment and health training modules in the curricula for continuous professional development of environment and health professionals.
• Environment and health training package.
  This training package, targeting key stakeholders such as environmental and health authorities and academics, covers specific training modules like health in environmental assessments and quantitative risk assessment methods. 
• Strengthening the implementation of health impact assessment in Latvia.
  This report synthesizes existing knowledge on internationally recognized HIA methods and approaches, how HIA has been implemented in other European countries, along with practical advice on how HIA can be implemented using the existing expertise and institutional arrangements in Latvia. The report was produced by WHO in collaboration with the Latvian Ministry of Health.