Development and communication of environmental health indicators on the local scale

Alinea Bert & Peter over coordinating proposal? Both the target groups of the Public Health Services, policymakers and the public, ask for information about the impact of environmental stressors on the public?s health. To answer to this demand various environmental indicators have been developed. A number of shortcomings of the current environmental health indicators are: - the high geographical scale; - indicators are expressed in measures which are hard to understand for layman; - indicators are expressed in different kinds units, which complicates the interpretation and comparability; - indicators are uncertain and the uncertainties are generally not quantified, which complicates the interpretation and communication. Therefore, meaningful and integrative environmental health indicators on the local scale are developed in this study. To communicate the indicators to the people concerned, a communication strategy will be developed. First the current environmental health indicators, their applicability and ways of communication on the local scale are studied through a literature review and a focus group of people concerned, experts on communication of environmental risks and employees of the environmental health departments of the Public Health Services. The environmental health indicators on the local scale are developed in collaboration with the consortium INTARESE. In the second phase the indicators and the communication strategy are tested in four distinctive cases concerning the urban environment, the indoor air quality in the school environment, the industrial environment and the reconstruction areas for intensive livestock farming in the rural environment. In the third phase the indicators and the communication strategy are evaluated through questionnaires and through a focus group of people concerned, policy makers and employees of the environmental health departments of the Public Health Services.