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 he World Health Organization is concerned that the
health impact of transport policies has been recognized too slowly
and without regard to the cumulative and combined effects of
the various health risks that road traffic presents.
 "We
can no longer ignore the mass of evidence that transport and
planning policies are having major effects on health, through
road accidents, fumes, noise and our ever-diminishing physical
activity," said J.E. Asvall, WHO Regional Director for Europe.
"Through cooperation, we need to ensure that government
policies in the European Region take health into account to maximize
the health and economic benefits. I think that most people care
more about their health than about their cars."
By adopting
the Charter at the London Conference in June 1999, Member States
will agree on principles, targets and a strategy for action to
reduce the human health costs of transport. The health targets
will be on air quality, injury, physical activity and noise.
The Charter
calls for better coordination on environment, transport and health
policies; tools to be developed for integrated environmental
impact assessment of transport strategies; monitoring systems
to be implemented; and environmental health guidelines for transport
to be produced. It points out that we are all paying for our
transport with our health, and this in turn involves hidden economic
costs. External costs linked to transport have been estimated
as 4.1 percent of the gross domestic product of the European
Union. These costs include health and congestion but leave out
the substantial savings that could be made in health costs by
allowing largely sedentary populations a real choice of modes
of safe transport.
The Charter
proposes a wide range of local and national measures that will
help to make a difference, involving transport and land-use planning,
infrastructure investment programs and policy decisions. These
include a commitment to raising the attractiveness of public
transport and cycling and walking, and taking special account
of groups at extra risk, such as children and old and frail people.
The Charter
highlights particularly the benefits of the simplest but most
neglected modes of transport: cycling and walking. There is good
evidence that, if the sedentary population had half an hour per
day of cycling or walking, the prevalence of heart disease, obesity
and diabetes would be halved. Most countries do not take walking
and cycling into account at all in their transport and planning
policies, and some countries do not consider them to be modes
of transport at all.
What is
needed is an adequate infrastructure for safe walking and cycling.
Increased cycling and walking can not only reduce dramatically
the incidence of some of the most common diseases, such as heart
disease, but can also reduce congestion, air pollution and global
climate change.
The full
supporting conference documents on transport, environment and
health can be found at www.who.dk/London99,
which also includes details of the other environment and health
issues addressed by the Conference. www.who.it/london_conference/teh.htm.
For more information, contact: WHO Regional Office for Europe, Scherfigsvej 8, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark, Tel.: +45 39 17 13 36 or ana who.dk. Press releases on World Wide Web site: www.who.dk.
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