Hey, Mr. President: Instead of spending billions on war, let's try something new!

Over 40 percent of deaths caused by malaria and 94 percent of deaths from diarrhoea "could be prevented through better environmental management"

Available Environmental Interventions Could Save Millions of Lives

By Gustavo Capdevila
Inter Press Service

Friday 16 June 2006

Geneva - One quarter of the global disease burden in adults is related to environmental risk factors that could be modified with existing interventions, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in a new report Friday. And in the case of children, environmental factors are involved in more than one-third of the disease burden, said Carlos Corvalán, coordinator of WHO's department of public health and environment and co-author of the report.

However, "the positive message is that we know which type of interventions need to be done in order to reduce that burden of disease and make sure that our health will benefit," said María Neira, WHO director of public health and environment.

"We are talking about interventions that are available," Neira told IPS "We are talking about reducing air pollution indoors and outdoors, about better access to clean water, about the prevention of chronic acute respiratory infections through the use of better fuels, about even the prevention of some non-communicable diseases such as cancer by regulating exposure to certain chemicals or improving the working environment and making sure that all of these will be contributing to our health."

(The rest is here.)