Environment and health training workshop in Latvia

Seventy participants from the health and environment sectors of eight countries (Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia) attended a training workshop on environment and health in Riga, Latvia, from 19 to 23 March 2012. Carried out in the framework of a European Commission Directorate General for Health and Consumers (DG SANCO) co-funded project, and organized by the WHO European Centre for Environment and Health, together with the WHO Country Office in Latvia, the event was opened by Rinalds Mucins, State Secretary of the Ministry of Health of Latvia and by Rolands Bebris, Deputy Director of the Environment Protection Department of the Latvian Ministry of Environment.

The event provided new insights on environment and health hot topics, and opportunities for networking for participants of different sectors and countries. The workshop consisted of a set of key lectures delivered by international experts, case studies presented by country counterparts and three parallel modules. These modules incorporated interactive activities into the learning.

Two of the modules were on health in environmental impact assessments of energy projects and health in strategic environmental assessments of energy policies and strategies. A third explored quantitative methods dealing with population health in environmental hotspots, quantitative risk assessment and the environmental burden of disease.

The event ended with a training the trainer module.