European Countries to Agree New Targets to Fight Environmental Threats to Health

New WHO Reports Show Progress in Reducing Environmental Hazards to Health but Growing Inequalities in Exposure

COPENHAGEN and PARMA, Italy, March 10, 2010 - Representatives of 53 Member States from the WHO European Region will
gather in Parma, Italy, on 10-12 March 2010 to review the impact of national
and cross-border environmental policies on the health status of their
populations.

The event will bring together over 800 participants from countries across
the European Region, including ministers of health and of the environment,
representatives of the European Commission, intergovernmental and
nongovernmental stakeholders, scientists and youth delegates.

Governments are expected to adopt a declaration reinforcing their
commitment to reducing major environmental risk factors (including unsafe
water and sanitation, contaminated air and dangerous chemicals) and emerging
global threats (such as climate change). The declaration, to be signed on 12
March 2010, will commit governments to achieve clear goals in the next 10
years.

"Working together and across sectors on tackling environmental hazards
has delivered tangible results on the wider European continent during the
last twenty years," says Ms Zsuzsanna Jakab, the new WHO Regional Director
for Europe. "However, climate change, the global financial crisis and growing
inequalities are putting a huge burden on national governments, making it
more important than ever to agree a new way forward."

Two new WHO reports highlight progress and gaps in environmental health

For the Conference, the WHO Regional Office for Europe has released two
new studies.

The first, Health and environment in Europe: progress assessment, reveals
that mortality rates from diarrhoeal diseases among young children have been
cut to 20% of previous levels in recent years, largely through improved
access to clean water and sanitation, and that traffic-related deaths have
fallen by 40% since the early 1990s. After a switch to unleaded petrol across
most of the Region, and a subsequent 90% cut in lead emissions, lead levels
in children's blood also dropped.

The second, WHO's largest compilation of evidence on inequalities in
environmental risk across Europe, published in the European Journal of Public
Health, points to significant variations within countries, and even cities,
in the social distribution of environmental exposure and related deaths and
disease. Vulnerable segments of society can be significantly more exposed to
avoidable environmental hazards, in some cases over twice as much as their
wealthier peers, in all countries in the European Region.

Way forward: more powerful legislation needed

Across the European Region, many successful initiatives have been
launched in the last decade to reduce environmental risks. The EU has
introduced new regulations on air quality and the safe use of chemicals
(REACH), providing direction that is being followed by many other countries
across the wider European continent. In countries outside the EU, governments
have created or updated more than 50% of their legislation on environment and
health during the last five years.

Nevertheless, government policies on different environmental issues and
health considerations vary significantly in scope and ambition. While
governments have designed a broad range of intersectoral actions to tackle
so-called traditional hazards - such as those related to drinking- and
bathing water, outdoor air and food safety - public policies on indoor air
quality, injuries and physical activity have not been sufficiently developed.

Notes to editors

1. The conference entitled "Protecting children's health in a changing
environment" is the latest milestone in an intergovernmental process that
started in 1989. The event has been organized by the WHO Regional Office for
Europe (Copenhagen, Denmark) and hosted by Italy's Ministry of Health and
Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea. The first four conferences were
hosted by the governments of Germany (in 1989), Finland (in 1994), the United
Kingdom (in 1999) and Hungary (2004).

2. For further information, please visit the conference web site
(www.euro.who.int/parma2010 ).

PRESS INFORMATION: Ms Cristiana Salvi, Mobile: +39-348-019-2305, Email: CSA at ecr.euro.who.int ; Dr Zsofia Szilagyi, Mobile: +45-2467-4846, Email: SZZ at euro.who.int .