Environmental health in developing countries: an overview of the problems and capacities.

health and environmental health are intimately intertwined. The existence of clean air, clean water, a stable climate, thriving wildlife, and well-managed natural resources determines the extent to which people can enjoy their basic rights to life, health, food, housing, livelihood, and culture. Although humans have been aware of the crucial relationship between human health and the environment for millennia, there still is a tendency to separate health and environmental issues and deal with them independently. To protect the environment, promote human health, and practice sustainable development, this attitude must be changed. Environmental health has received considerable political recognition since the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, which created the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Health impacts of environmental degradation figured prominently in several chapters of Agenda 21 (United Nations 1993) adapted in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. Several meetings of European ministers of environment and health have resulted in considerable improvements in the interaction among their ministries. A meeting of the health and environment ministers of the Americas was held in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 4–5 March 2002, and a similar meeting of the environment and health ministers of African countries is being planned for 2004. and biodiversity) Agenda (WSSD 2002). The WEHAB health agenda suggests many issues that must be addressed, including environmental health issues and the need for intersectoral cooperation, more information, capacity-building, and more financial resources. The New Partnership for Africa's Development has several environmental and health goals in its action plan. Further, many multilateral environmental agreements, such as the Montreal Protocol, are health-related. Many countries, particularly in Europe, are developing national environmental health action plans and local environmental health action plans. Despite the surge in international, regional, national, and local recognition of the link between the environment and human health, the burden of disease in developing countries is increasing. At the WSSD, Canada, with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UNEP, proposed the Health and Environment Linkages Initiative (UNEP 2002). This initiative now being implemented by the WHO and the UNEP, with the support of Canada, seeks to build capacity for more effective policy responses through consolidation of the knowledge base, development of strategies for intersectoral cooperation, and capacity building. The initiative will be completed by a multidisciplinary international group of experts from both developed and developing countries. An estimated 25% of all preventable illness is caused …