WHO, UNDP, UNEP and UNICEF have partnered to create a new compendium of 500 actions aimed at reducing death and diseases driven by environmental risk factors, the first such resource to unite this expertise from across the UN system. Environmental pollution and other environmental risks cause 24 per cent of deaths through, for example, heart disease, stroke, poisonings, traffic accidents, and others. This toll could be substantially reduced - even eliminated - through bold preventive action at national, regional, local and sector-specific levels. The Compendium of WHO and other UN guidance on health & environment provides easy access to practical actions for practitioners to scale up efforts to create healthy environments that prevent disease. It is designed for policymakers, staff in government ministries, local government, in-country UN personnel and other decision makers. The repository presents actions and recommendations to address a comprehensive range of environmental risk factors to health, such as air pollution, unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene, climate and ecosystem change, chemicals, radiation and occupational risks, among others. Air pollution alone leads to 7 million deaths each year, while climate change is expected to contribute increasingly to a broad range of health impacts, both directly and indirectly through effects on biodiversity.
1. Background -- 2. Air pollution -- 3. WASH -- 4. Solid waste -- 5. Chemicals -- 6. Radiation -- 7. Climate change -- 8. Nature and health -- 9. Safe environments and mobility -- 10. Safe and healthy food -- 11. Priority settings for action -- 12. Cross-cutting topics -- Annex. Messages on health and environment for the general public.

viii, 181 p. : ill., graphs, tables

Includes bibliographical references.
"WHO/HEP/ECH/EHD/21.02"