WHO policies & strategies

Over the past years, policy, legislative and regulatory frameworks that address environmental and health linkages have been developed. The policy document Environmental Health : A Strategy for the African Region (64.56 kB) was adopted by the WHO African Regional Committee in 2002. The overall goal of the strategy is to influence environmental conditions and make them impact positively on the broad determinants of health in order to promote positive outcomes for people and communities, particularly rural and urban fringe communities. The specific objectives of the strategy are to support countries to: develop their own policies on environmental health by 2010; establish/strengthen appropriate structures for environmental health services by 2010; improve human resource capacities in environmental health in ministries of health by 2015, and foster sector collaboration and partnership.

The Libreville Declaration on Health and Environment (347.09 kB) was adopted by Ministers of Health and Ministers of the Environment in 2008. The declaration is a policy statement that provides a cohesive and integrated framework to coherently address health and environment linkages. The Libreville Declaration is the overarching framework under which health and environment linkages are being addressed coherently.  It is a set of 11 priority actions to which 52 African Governments committed themselves to, in order to protect health and preserve ecosystems.

The priority actions are:

• Establishing a health and environment strategic alliance, as the basis for plans and joint action
• Developing or updating national, subregional and regional frameworks
• Ensuring integration of agreed objectives in the areas of health and environment
• Building national, subregional and regional capacities
• Supporting knowledge acquisition and management
• Establishing or strengthening systems for health and environmental surveillance
• Effectively implementing national, subregional and regional mechanisms for enforcing compliance with international conventions and national regulations
• Setting up national monitoring and regulation mechanisms
• Instituting the practice of systematic assessment of health and environment risks
• Developing partnerships
• Achieving a balance in the allocation of national budgetary resources for intersectoral health-and-environment programmes

The details of other policies and strategies guiding work in this area can be found in the following documents:

The WHO Strategic Plan for Health and Environment in the African Region 2006–2009 (157.59 kB)

Occupational and Health Safety in the African Region: Situation Analysis and Perspectives (Report of the Regional Director) (159.83 kB)

Occupational and Health Safety in the African Region: Situation Analysis and Perspectives (Resolutions) (64.56 kB)