A joint effort in the field of environment and health.

Abstract

One important observation is that in the past measures related to environmental protection contributed a lot to enhance health at the individual and population level. Can we expect additional health benefits in industrialised countries nowadays? The Swiss National Environment and Health Action Plan (NEHAP) was among the first to be developed in an industrialised country. We fully support the statement that health cannot be ensured by the health sector alone. Health must be integrated into the planning and implementation processes of the different administrative sectors and levels in order to create a supportive environment. To develop such joint efforts, for instance in the field of health and environment, it is a prerequisite to create a situation of mutual benefit. The targets and measures must have an impact both on health and environment, which seems to be part of the Swiss N E H A E So far so good. However, the paper of Sonja Kahlmeier et al. also raises questions. We will highlight three topics. The first one relates to the selected areas and their underlying concepts. From 17 areas, the working group members selected the following three: nature and well-being, mobility and wellbeing, and housing and well-being. How was this selection made? The paper gives seven criteria on which the choice was based, but has not made clear how these criteria of very different sorts were weighed in order to make the final selection. In addition, we miss one important criterion, which is the possibility to influence the area by active intervention. Actually, we need a comprehensive conceptual model, which makes clear how nature, mobility, and housing tie together, how they interact with other determinants of well-being, and what their impact is on well-being. Such a model was e.g., developed for the Dutch Public