Sustainable development and health: Recent international developments, policies and projects

Environment and health have been more and more jointly addressed in recent years, thanks to the efforts of several public and private institutions. In this scenario, a leading role has been played by the World Heath Organisation (WHO). A specific attention was devoted to the issue by the European Union (EU) EU institutions and the WHO Office for Europe, which lists 52 countries (including Europe, Eastern European Countries and Turkey, former Yugoslavia and part of the former Soviet Union). The objectives of the present paper are to give an overview of the main developments in this area, and to underline the progress made towards a common understanding of health and environment issues, the advantages and limits of these developments and the challenges for the future, to be tackled at a global level. © 2006 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.