Report of the international training workshop on CBEH.19–23 March 2012 Riga, Latvia

More and more, countries are faced with the challenge of addressing the burden of disease arising from environmental exposures. Capacity building in environment and health has been recognized as a critical need among Member States of the WHO European Region, and the European Commission. This report gives an overview on one of the main activities of a capacity building in environment and health (CBEH) project, co-funded by the European Commission, DG Sanco: the international training workshop held 19–23 March 2012 in Riga, Latvia. It summarizes the main activities of the workshop and its final evaluation. The structure of the workshop with key lectures combined with in-depth modules proved effective, for relatively junior professionals as well as for participants with many years of experience in the area of environment and health. For future events it should be considered to provide a similar training to less experienced environment and health professionals, as also the more in-depth modules could only present an introduction into their specific thematic area and in addition to develop an advanced international training workshop with less thematic areas but more in-depth training and a focus on practical applications.