This November has seen the second edition of the Bonn School on Environment and Health, focused on creating transformative public health leadership in the WHO European Region and at country level. The Bonn School also addressed technical gaps and raised awareness on environment and health challenges in countries, building capacity at the national level to strive for safer and healthier communities.
Organized by the WHO European Centre for Environment and Health (ECEH), the Bonn School gathered more than 100 participants from 40 countries. Over the last 4 weeks, participants have been immersed in state-of-the-art science and knowledge, in areas such as: air quality; climate change; green recovery, such as redevelopment of contaminated sites; and defining the environment and health research agenda. The Bonn School has also established a cross-sectoral collaboration and exchange network to build a community of practice for environment and health professionals across the Region.
“While the Region recovers, rebuilds and addresses the health, social and economic repercussions of COVID-19, it is critical to continue to build knowledge and leadership on how to deal with challenges of the future, right now,” said Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe in the opening session. “We require an urgent, integrated response. Any action must be supported by equitable and scientifically based policies. And solutions to the complex health and environment challenges unfolding in our region and around the world, must be multidisciplinary, involving every sector and corner of society.”
While 25% of the global burden of disease is associated with environmental risk factors, in the European Region, nearly 1.4 million people lose their lives every year due to exposure to environmental factors. At the same time, environmental and climate change challenges are becoming more intense and frequent, and they are putting health systems under unprecedented pressure.
Solving real-life environment and health challenges
The second edition of the Bonn School, which was entirely virtual and run from 9 November to 2 December 2021, addressed the complexity of environment and health topics, and the ability to work in a multidisciplinary and multisectoral setting. For that reason, it also offered training in cross-cutting skills, such as teamwork, leadership and risk communication.
As the Bonn School aimed to strengthen leadership in these areas at country level, participants were called on to solve selected environment and health challenges related to the study areas that would evolve as they advance through the courses, from designing a road map for dealing with contaminated sites and their redevelopment to developing strategies to introduce new national air quality standards, a national action plan for extreme weather events or a health and environment research agenda.
The goal was to increase the direct relevance of the training experience to the daily professional life of participants, and to raise awareness on the importance of interaction between different disciplines and sectors, in order to face environmental and health challenges. It was also aiming to support evidence-based decision-making processes, as well as to consider impacts on vulnerable groups.
With this programme of training, ECEH supports Member States in strengthening their capacities to respond effectively to diverse health and environmental challenges. The Bonn School on Environment and Health is part of the commitment to achieve better health and well-being for all, as outlined in WHO’s European Programme of Work 2020–2025.
