Environmental Health : Bridging the Gaps

This discussion paper: a) proposes a new approach of targeted collaboration among different sectors; b) devises new tools or enhances existing ones to facilitate the contributions of different sectors to help relieve health problems; and c) puts theory into practice through a pilot in Ghana. The report is divided into three parts. Part 1 explains the foundations of environmental health and proposes a new approach that taps health benefits systematically outside the health sector through multisectoral collaboration. Part 2 provides basic tools to identify, prioritize, and propose remedial measures for many multisectoral health problems, many of which could and do otherwise fall between the cracks in single sector projects. Part 3 summarizes the findings and presents background material from a workshop in Ghana, "Targeted Collaboration among Line Agencies, Local Communities and the Ministry of Health," putting into practice the ideas of Parts 1 and 2. Annex A provides a rapid checklist on environmental health for practitioners and task managers. Annex B provides one-page summaries of about twenty major diseases.