Environmental health indicators

Abstract

This presentation gives a general overview of the project titled Environmental Health Indicators, coordinated by WHO and managed by the Research Centre on the Toxic Oil Syndrome and Rare Diseases in Spain. The presentations describes the objectives of the project, the steps taken and the results obtained during the feasibility study. The project aims to develop an environmental health information system that will allow the monitoring of public health and its health determinants and make international comparisons, develop environmental policies and facilitate communication with citizens. WHO developed a methodology for the development of these indicators within the conceptual framework of DPSEEA (Driving Force, Pressure, State, Exposure, Effect, Action) and selected a total of 55 indicators (which included 168 variables) in 10 environmental health areas. The feasibility study predicted the successful gathering of 89% of the indicators. However, data recollection proved difficult due to the frequent incompatibility of some variables in the Spanish information systems with the WHO defined variables. On a management level, the greatest difficulty arose from the disperse distribution of responsibilities in environmental health matters. In addition to the technical contribution of this project to Environmental Health in Spain, an added value has been to establish a close collaboration with the different Ministries involved.