Guidelines For Evaluation Of Environmental Health Services

A practical guide to concepts, methods, and instruments for conducting an evaluation of environmental health services. Noting that managers frequently overlook the importance of evaluation, the book also performs a persuasive function, serving to illustrate the advantages of evaluation for purposes ranging from the justification of continuing expenditure to assurance that public health is being adequately protected from hazards in food, air or water. Throughout the book, examples of evaluations conducted in European countries are used to show how different approaches work to resolve specific practical problems. The book has six chapters. The first provides a general introduction to the purpose, principles and components of evaluation, as well as procedures that are frequently used. Chapter two applies these general principles to the specific setting of environmental health services, where process, impact, relevance, and adequacy of services may need to be assessed. Factors that make such services difficult to evaluate through traditional mechanisms are also briefly discussed. Against this background, a chapter on data and indicators provides detailed advice on the choice of indicators, concentrating on the use of process, environmental health, and urban indicators. Chapter four, on instruments for evaluation, outlines the strengths and weaknesses of several methods of data collection, giving particular attention to tools for economic analysis and qualitative evaluation. The remaining chapters cover the use of results in management decisions and set out five case studies of evaluations recently conducted in Europe.

This text shows why we need to develop an integrated approach to health and environmental impact assessment of development projects, and how this might be achieved. Case studies and examples are provided

This document provides a national approach to environmental health risk assessment. The document presents a general environmental health risk assessment methodology applicable to the range of environmental health hazards.

Factoring health and related costs into decision making is essential to confronting the nation's health problems and enhancing public well-being. Some policies and programs historically not recognized as relating to health are believed or known to have important health consequences. For example, public health has been linked to an array of policies that determine the quality and location of housing, availability of public transportation, land use and street connectivity, agricultural practices and the availability of various types of food, and development and location of businesses and industry. Improving Health in the United States: The Role of Health Impact Assessment offers guidance to officials in the public and private sectors on conducting HIAs to evaluate public health consequences of proposed decisions-such as those to build a major roadway, plan a city's growth, or develop national agricultural policies-and suggests actions that could minimize adverse health impacts and optimize beneficial ones. Several approaches could be used to incorporate aspects of health into decision making, but HIA holds particular promise because of its applicability to a broad array of programs, consideration of both adverse and beneficial health effects, ability to consider and incorporate various types of evidence, and engagement of communities and stakeholders in a deliberative process. The report notes that HIA should not be assumed to be the best approach to every health policy question but rather should be seen as part of a spectrum of public health and policy-oriented approaches. The report presents a six-step framework for conducting HIA of proposed policies, programs, plans, and projects at federal, state, tribal, and local levels, including within the private sector. In addition, the report identifies several challenges to the successful use of HIA, such as balancing the need to provide timely information with the realities of varying data quality, producing quantitative estimates of health effects, and engaging stakeholders.