Preventing disease through healthy environments: a global assessment of the burden of disease from environmental risks
WHO – A Prüss-Ustün, J Wolf, C Corvalán, R Bos and M Neira
March 2016 :: 176 pages
ISBN 978 92 4 156519 6

Executive Summary (excerpt)
In 2012, this present study estimates, 12.6 million deaths globally, representing 23% (95% CI: 13–34%) of all deaths, were attributable to the environment. When accounting for both death and disability, the fraction of the global burden of disease due to the environment is 22% (95% CI: 13–32%). In children under five years, up to 26% (95% CI: 16–38%) of all deaths could be prevented, if environmental risks were removed. Of the 12.6 million deaths attributable to the environment, 8.1 million (15%) were estimated using comparative risk assessment (CRA) methods, and the remaining 4.5 million using a combination of methods including expert opinion.

This study provides an approximate estimate of how much disease can be prevented by
reducing the environmental risks to health. It includes a meta-synthesis of key evidence
relating diseases and injuries to the environment. It brings together quantitative estimates of
the disease burden attributable to the environment using a combination of approaches that
includes CRA, epidemiological data, transmission pathways and expert opinion. The synthesis
of evidence linking 133 diseases and injuries, or their groupings, to the environment has been
reviewed to provide an overall picture of the disease burden that could be prevented through
healthier environments.

Environmental risks to health are defined, in this study, as “all the physical, chemical and
biological factors external to a person, and all related behaviours, but excluding those natural
environments that cannot reasonably be modified.” To increase the policy relevance of this
study, its focus is on that part of the environment which can reasonably be modified…

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