Harare -- The WHO Regional Office for Africa has developed a strategy which, if implemented by countries, would by 2020 result in the creation of an enabling environment that promotes health and contributes to sustainable development in the Region.

The overall goal of the strategy is to influence environmental conditions and make them impact on the broad determinants of health in order to promote positive outcomes for people and communities, particularly rural and urban fringe communities.

The specific objectives of the strategy are to support countries to: develop their own policies on environmental health by 2010; establish/strengthen appropriate structures for environmental health services by 2010; improve human resource capacities in environmental health in ministries of health by 2015, and foster sector collaboration and partnership.

According to the strategy document, four guiding principles are necessary for the implementation of the environment and health strategy. These are :

1. participation of the people in decision making (this implies involving all stakeholders in decision making at the local level, particularly in natural resources management); 
2. provision of environmental health services to all; 
3. a pro-poor focus with a poverty alleviation/reduction component to ensure that the main objective of planning is to benefit marginalized people, and 
4. inter-sectoral collaboration among various social-sector departments, particularly housing, local government, land, agriculture, transport (roads), environment and water, should ensure integrated planning and implementation.

It recommends the implementation of eight priority interventions to address the numerous and complex environmental determinants of health. These are:

• improving the capacity of institutional structures to respond to challenges;
• co-ordinating the use of resources to benefit the Region, particularly the poor and deprived population groups; 
• bringing countries together to share experiences and expertise; 
• seeking indigenous knowledge and encourage its application where appropriate;  
•  undertaking risk management as one of the basic approaches in environmental health service delivery; 
   using proven approaches such as healthy settings, cities, neighbourhoods, markets, etc. - and participatory hygiene and sanitation transformation (PHAST); WHO has developed guidelines on these approaches; 
   introducing environment and health as a life-long lesson in educational curricula; and  
   supporting research on the implementation of cost-effective measures that benefit communities.

To address the aforementioned issues, and to ensure the success of the strategy, specific roles and responsibilities are assigned to the main stakeholders, including the countries themselves, WHO and other development partners.

The overall thrust of the strategy is to stimulate the development of environmental health policies in the health sector. Such policies should enable the health sector within countries to inform the policies of the other social sectors in order to make them health-sensitive.

The strategy should also enable the health sector to improve the knowledge and awareness of communities about the relationship between the environment and health. It is important for communities to make informed choices so as to improve their health status and quality of life and contribute to sustainable development.

WHO says that the future of health globally, and particularly in Africa, will be determined by the state of the environment. While other regions are faced with problems of one era, Africa is confronted by the combined problems of the pre-industrial, industrial and post-industrial eras.

Public Information and Communication Unit

World Health Organization - Regional Office for Africa

P.O. Box 6 Brazzaville, Congo.

Tel: + 1 321 953 9378; Fax: 1 321 953 9513

In Harare: Mobile 091 231 405