Environmental health comprises those aspects of
human health, including quality of life, that are determined by physical,
chemical, biological, social and psychosocial factors in the environment.
It also refers to the theory and practice of assessing correcting,
controlling and preventing those factors in the environment that can
potentially affect adversely the health of present and future generations.

(World Health Organization, 1993)

The Global Health Agenda as outlined in
the WHO Eleventh General Programme of Work 2006-2015 has outlined a need
for Environmental Health promotion under one of its seven priority areas,
which is written as “Tackling the
determinants of health”. It mentions that the health determinants are
imperative to improve the health of the world’s most vulnerable people and
reducing health inequalities. It has also outlined that the environment
related health problems, as follows, need careful tacking through
incorporation of various cross-cutting efforts which quite often goes
beyond the influence of ministry of health;

-complexities with food safety and
security, food habits and healthy diet; and threatened water supplies, and

-climate change and its adverse impacts
with extreme climatic behaviors, and need for preparedness to its
mitigation and adaptation

In
accordance with the Global Health Agenda, WHO’s
priorities in Eleventh General Programme of Work 2006-2015, has equally
focused for Environmental Health, and has elaborated it under one of its
priorities namely “ Providing
support to countries in moving to universal coverage with effective public
health interventions”, which is designed to include clusters such as
communicable and non-communicable disease prevention and control; sexual
and reproductive health; infant, child, adolescent and maternal health and
the health of older persons; environment-related health problems, and
effective response in terms of crisis; and research.

WHO
South East Asia Regional Committee’s Sixty-first Session in September 2008
to be held in SEARO, New Delhi
will propose and discuss a regional initiative on environment and health as
follows;

3.support
research to assess risk factors and health impacts of global warming and
climate change; and

4.Provide
technical support and capacity building for health impact assessments, on
strategies for healthy public policies and on the sound management of
hazardous substances, including health care wastes.

Death and disease burden from emergencies,
disasters and disease outbreaks associated with environmental risk
factors can be significantly reduced by effective prevention,
preparedness and response capacities.

Healthy Settings, the settings-based
approaches to health promotion, involve a holistic and multi-disciplinary
method which integrates action across risk factors. The goal is to
maximize disease prevention via a "whole system" approach. The
settings approach has roots in the WHO Health for All strategy and, more
specifically, the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion. Healthy Settings
key principles include community participation, partnership, empowerment and equity. Read
more

The aim of the Radiation and Environmental
Health Programme is to look for solutions to protect human health from
ionizing radiation hazards by raising people's awareness of the potential
health risks.