Healthy Environment

 Fostering sustainable societies and reducing environmental risk factors for improved public health.

  Healthy environments are those in which all people have good air quality and access to adequate drinking water, safe sanitation and waste management, which in turn reduce the risks of exposure to pathogens and chemicals. They are also those in which all people can enjoy and have access to enabling and health-promoting settings and spaces.

 Healthy environments are inextricably linked to greener, more sustainable societies, including energy policies that reduce the pace of climate change and do not compromise the health of present and future generations. In fact, one quarter of the global burden of disease is attributable to avoidable environmental risk factors such as the chemical, radiological and biological contamination of air, food, water and soil. Climate change threatens to exacerbate all these risks and their impacts on health. Unsustainable policies in sectors such as transportation, energy, waste management, housing, food and agriculture systems and industry contribute to the estimated 7 million deaths from outdoor and indoor air pollution annually. Environmental risk factors are intricately linked to each other and to the social and economic determinants of health.

 Healthy environments enable people to make healthy choices through appropriate health and non-health interventions, which can be co-designed with relevant partners.

Country priority setting for the period of the Thirteenth General Programme of Work (2019-2023) was carried out at the level of outcome to establish priority outcomes for our joint work with the Member States. The WHO Programme budget is approved by the World Health Assembly at the outcome level, with priority setting driving the bottom-up costing of the budget. At the end of 2022, 36% of the priority outcomes at country level reached 75% financing. Further disaggregation of financing to the level of outcome and major office shows a number of outcomes with significant underfunding, which highlights the chronic lack of sustainable financing to reduce funding gaps. It also underlines the importance of flexible resources, which are key to ensure equitable financing of all outcomes. 

A healthy environment has been defined by global health organisations as one that is safe, supportive of healthy lifestyles, and free of hazards. Such definitions disregard the complexity of what it means for an environment to be perceived as ‘healthy’—such as the mental, not just physical, health effects on citizens. This study aimed to understand the attributes that underrepresented groups of the United Kingdom (UK) public assign to healthy environments—an important step for directing public policy and actions to create environments that are inclusive of all citizens. This co-created study involved 95 participants from underrepresented communities in 10 separate focus groups, each facilitated by a community member. Thematic analyses highlighted five key attributes of a healthy environment: sounds and sights, accessibility, safety, familiarity and mental health and wellbeing. This study draws a picture of key attributes underrepresented groups of the UK public assign to healthy environments that is richer than that drawn by existing definitions. These findings illustrate the importance of hearing diverse voices when directing research, policy, and actions that attempt to develop healthy environments for all.