Environmental Health Services In Europe Policy Options

This publication is intended to serve as a practical guide to the development of relevant curricula for the education and training of environmental health professionals. This book aims to: (1) set out principles for developing policies on education and training for environmental health professionals at national and subnational levels; (2) formulate proposals for curricula that aid in conferring the necessary competencies to environmental health professionals; (3) support the upgrading of national capacities for education and training to facilitate national self-reliance in the prevention and control of environmental hazards; and (4) promote the harmonization of international efforts to upgrade the environmental health workforce in Europe. (WRM).

Countries in Europe have long recognized that good health care, though essential, is not in itself sufficient to improve health or to reduce the increasing gaps in health status between the rich and the poor. In 1984, together with WHO, they adopted and many attempted actively to implement, what has become known as the health for all policy. This called for a radical shift from health services planning to an approach based on setting objectives and targets for health, requiring partnerships with industry, agriculture and commerce and settings such as workplaces and schools. It also required changes in behaviour and action to ensure a fairer distribution of the determinants of health, such as income, education, employment opportunities, and adequate food and housing. This volume provides a broad overview of how the 51 countries in the WHO European Region set about this ambitious task. The study's findings are based on replies to checklists sent to the Member States, a set of country profiles (given as an annex), published policy documents, and case studies written by people who were involved in the process in their own countries or regions. Examining how countries used some of the policy instruments open to them as they strove to close the health gaps, the study explores how far the rhetoric was accompanied by the necessary action and whether countries were able to move from their traditional ways of working, and poses questions as to whether this approach will be sufficient to meet the challenges of the future.

The book provides an analysis of existing local planning processes and initiatives in the WHO European Region, identifies their common features and describes how they interrelate with and support national environmental health action plans (NEHAPs). Based on a two-year project carried out in the eastern half of the Region, this book also provides guidance and options for the development of local plans (LEHAPs) that give the levels of flexibility necessary to ensure that a bottom-up planning process can occur. It adresses both local and national policy-makers and professionals in the environmental, health and other sectors

First published in 1999, this volume recognises that the role and status of public health in Europe has again become increasingly recognized and features contributions on various nations within the European Community. This is not only in individual countries but also in the policies of the European Union as exemplified in the Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties. This book is a critical account of the present structures and policies of member countries and how policies have evolved within the European Commission. It describes both possible models and needs and contrasts these with the current legislative framework. It thus serves the needs of both practitioners, policy makers, policy analysts and students interested in public health and social policy developments.