Realising economic benefits of environmental health

Reducing environment-related health problems could make people much better off. These problems have economic repercussions: they generate additional costs for patients and the social welfare system, they lead to lost productivity and profits for industry, and they often result in lost income for individuals. Last but not least, people assign considerable value to reducing health risks.

Work is ongoing calculating what would be the economic benefits of solving environmental health problems. Though still imprecise, these calculations already show that current economic losses may be considerable. This is a further argument in favour of policies aimed at mitigating environment-related health problems.

1. Promoting environmentally sound economic growth
2. Ensuring mutual economic benefit
3. Ensuring a healthy environment
4. Advancing environmental health

1. Tackling poverty through environmental health measures
2. Assessing financing to reduce health risks from environmental pollution and hazards

1. Using economic instruments to manage environmental health costs
2. Implementing environmental health strategy
3. Generating community support for environmental health programmes
4. Establishing priorities for national environmental health action plans
5. Developing financial strategies for national environmental health action plans
6. Developing environmental health action plans

1. Conducting integrated environmental health risk assessments
2. Assessing cost and benefits of different development policies for human and environmental health

1. Identifying economic benefits of biological diversity

1. Unhealthiness
2. Uneconomic
3. Health

1. Macroeconomics and Health
2. Environmental Effects on Public Health: An Economic Perspective
3. The Economic and Social Aspects of Biodiversity Benefits and Costs of Biodiversity in Ireland
4. WGBC: DOING RIGHT BY PLANET AND PEOPLE
5. WHO: How valuable are environmental health interventions? Evaluation of water and sanitation programmes in India