The European Environment and Health Process (EHP) has launched 2 new Partnerships, which expand its reach in tackling environment and health challenges across the WHO European Region: the EHP Partnership on Poison Centres, led by the United Kingdom, and the EHP Partnership on Risk Reduction in the School Environment, led by Hungary.
The launch took place during the 14th meeting of the European Environment and Health Task Force (EHTF) held on 26–27 June 2024 in Utrecht, the Netherlands, co-organized by the WHO European Centre for Environment and Health (ECEH), the National Institute for Public Health and Environment (RIVM) and the City of Utrecht.
The meeting was attended by more than 80 participants from 43 Member States of the WHO European Region and 11 stakeholders, who participated in person or online and endorsed the new Partnerships.
International advocacy and resource mobilization
The EHP Partnerships is a thematic and action-oriented mechanism to facilitate the implementation of the commitments made in the Budapest Declaration and its “Roadmap for healthier people, a thriving planet and a sustainable future 2023–2030”. During the Seventh Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health in 2023, 4 Partnerships were launched focusing on human biomonitoring, health sector climate action, healthy active mobility, and youth.
The EHP Partnerships bring together countries and partners with a shared interest in a specific thematic area to foster collaboration on a voluntary basis and drive progress across the Region. They serve as dynamic platforms for communities of practice, international advocacy and resource mobilization.
“We were very impressed by the progress of the Partnerships. There has been a lot of hard work done over the past year. It is great to see those actions to address climate change and heat stress, sustainable health care, wastewater surveillance, active mobility and urban planning are still on the agenda of the Member States. The members of the Partnerships have agreed to continue the hard work, and we are curious to see the progress next year,” said Brigit Staatsen, senior researcher at RIVM and Chair of the EHTF.
Improving public health responses to unintentional poisoning
The EHP Partnership on Poison Centres aims to develop and strengthen poison centres across the Region, reducing exposures and risks posed by chemicals to human health. WHO estimates that, in 2016, unintentional poisoning caused 106 683 deaths and the loss of 6.3 million years of healthy life (disability-adjusted life years) worldwide. Yet, as of 1 January 2023, only 47% of WHO Member States had a poisons centre. Poison centres have a well-recognized role to play in preventing poisonings, providing clinical treatment, and assessing and addressing exposures and risks posed by hazardous chemicals to human health.
“Around 15 countries from the WHO European Region have expressed interest in joining the Partnership. Together, we will contribute to providing technical support to help develop and strengthen poison centres across the Region. Our goal is to improve public health responses through capacity-building, twinning projects, increased toxicovigilance and improved information sharing on poison centres across the Region,” said Raquel Duarte-Davidson, Head of the Chemicals and Environmental Effects Department at the UK Health Security Agency.
She added: “We aim to work together to better understand potential issues and share experiences across countries, ensuring compliance with the International Health Regulations. Our ultimate goal is to establish closer collaborations between public health and clinical toxicology, provide consistent advice during incidents, and take a proactive approach to prevent exposure and reduce risks”.
Mitigating environmental risk factors in schools and kindergartens
The second Partnership strives to promote a healthy school environment, reducing risks associated with inadequate air quality, and poor water, sanitation and hygiene to protect children’s health and well-being, and increase optimal learning outcomes.
This Partnership seeks to become a hub for sharing knowledge, experience and good practice to improve the quality of indoor environments and foster cross-sectoral cooperation for progress in policy and practice.
“We are delighted to launch the EHP Partnership on Risk Reduction in the School Environment. In Hungary, we have been working in this field for decades, focusing on identifying and mitigating environmental risk factors that can harm the health of schoolchildren and kindergarteners,” said Dr Tamás Pandics, Director of the National Centre for Public Health and Pharmacy in Hungary.
“By improving the environments in school buildings and kindergartens, we aim to reduce the environmental burden of diseases in these age groups. We are committed to creating safer and healthier spaces for children in Hungary. Already 5 countries have joined us in this initiative, and we hope more will follow.”
Existing EHP Partnerships
Since the Budapest Conference in July 2023, over 30 Member States have joined the following EHP Partnerships:
- EHP Partnership on Human Biomonitoring, led by Germany and co-led by Georgia;
- EHP Partnership for Health Sector Climate Action, led by Ireland;
- THE PEP/EHP Partnership on Healthy Active Mobility, jointly led by Austria, France and the Netherlands; and
- EHP Partnership on Youth, led by Slovenia and co-led by the International Youth Health Organization.
Partners can join the EHP Partnerships at any stage. Member States and stakeholders interested in the work of the EHP Partnerships or joining any of the Partnerships should contact the EHP Secretariat at: euceh@who.int