Quantifying environmental health impacts

Preventing disease through healthy environments: Towards an estimate of the environmental burden of disease

How much disease could be prevented through better management of our environment? The environment influences our health in many ways — through exposures to physical, chemical and biological risk factors, and through related changes in our behaviour in response to those factors. To answer this question, the available scientific evidence was summarized and more than 100 experts were consulted for their estimates of how much environmental risk factors contribute to the disease burden of 85 diseases.

This report summarizes the results globally, by 14 regions worldwide, and separately for children. The evidence shows that environmental risk factors play a role in more than 80% of the diseases regularly reported by the World Health Organization. Globally, nearly one quarter of all deaths and of the total disease burden can be attributed to the environment. In children, however, environmental risk factors can account for slightly more than one-third of the disease burden. These findings have important policy implications, because the environmental risk factors that were studied largely can be modified by established, cost-effective interventions. The interventions promote equity by benefiting everyone in the society, while addressing the needs of those most at risk.

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• Preventing disease through healthy environments
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• Arabic [pdf 165kb]
• Chinese [pdf 455kb]
• French [pdf 2.45Mb]
• English
  pdf, 859kb
• Russian [pdf 522kb]
• Spanish
  pdf, 2.62Mb

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NEW: Update of global statistics - Annex 2 tables

• Table A2.3
  pdf, 24kb
  Deaths attributable to environmental factors, by disease and mortality stratum, for WHO Regions in 2004.
• Table A2.4
  pdf, 26kb
  Burden of disease (DALYs) attributable to environmental factors, by disease and mortality stratum, for WHO Regions in 2004.

• Table of contents, preface and executive summary
  pdf, 531kb
• 1. Introduction
  pdf, 401kb
• 2. What is the environment in the context of health?
  pdf, 207kb
• 3. What is meant by the "attributable fraction" of a risk factor?
  pdf, 68kb
• 4. Methods
  pdf, 470kb
• 5. Analysis of estimates of the environmental attributable fraction, by disease
  pdf, 1.15Mb
• 6. Global results of the analysis
  pdf, 404kb
• 7. Conclusions
  pdf, 283kb
• Annex 1: WHO Member States
  pdf, 309kb
• Annex 2: Global statistics produced by the analysis of the environmental disease burden (Tables A2.1, A2.2 and A.2.3)
  pdf, 1.64Mb
• Annex 2: Global statistics produced by the analysis of the environmental disease burden (Tables A2.4)
  pdf, 753kb
• References, acknowlegments, credits
  pdf, 80kb

Publishing and ordering information

© World Health Organization 2006
ISBN 92 4 159382 2
To order a hard copy of the report

Press release

• Almost a quarter of all disease caused by environmental exposure

Radio interviews

• Radio interviews
  by Dr Maria Neira, Director, Public Health and the Environment Department, WHO, Dr Annette Prüss-Üstün, Scientist, Public Health and the Environment Department, WHO and lead author of the report Dr Carlos Corvalan, Scientist, Public Health and the Environment Department, WHO and co-author of the report

Video message

• Health is the key in motivating to solve environmental problems
  by Dr Maria Neira, Director, Public Health and Environment Department, WHO