The Parma declaration

Malta, together with 52 other countries, last month endors-ed the Parma Declaration on Environment and Health, which is particular in its emphasis on implementation by having clear targets and deadlines on a number of commitments. This was signed by ministers and representatives of the 53 member states of the World Health Organisation (WHO) European Region that came together in Parma, Italy, for the Fifth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health organised by WHO and hosted by the Italian government.

The Minister for Health, the Elderly and Community Care, Joseph Cassar, headed the Maltese delegation, which was made up of representatives from the ministry responsible for health, the Environmental Protection Directorate within the Malta Environment and Planning Authority and the National Climate Change Adaption Committee.

The conference, aptly titled Protecting Children's Health In A Changing Environment, followed up on progress achieved by governments over the past 20 years. In the words of Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO regional director for Europe, the conference also provided "a radically new vision for European health policy to address the biggest health challenges of our region".

On the last day of the conference, all 53 member states endorsed the Parma Declaration, a document which, together with WHO, they had been working on over the past two years.

Governments of the WHO European region have pledged to prioritise the responsibility to protect children's health by reducing environmental hazards; to promote environments that are safe and conducive to healthy lifestyles; and to protect ecosystems and natural resources on which children's health and future generations depend.

Furthermore, the Parma Declaration assumes unprecedented importance, not only for the comprehensiveness with which environmental health issues are addressed but also because, for the first time, the document establishes deadlines by which some of the commitments have to be respected by governments.

Among some of the points in the declaration that are particularly relevant to Malta is a commitment by governments to provide each child by 2020 with access to healthy and safe environments in which to walk and cycle to schools, and green spaces in which children can play and undertake physical activity.

Governments have also committed themselves to protecting children and pregnant or breast-feeding women from risks posed by exposure to harmful substances, calling for more research into the potentially adverse effects of persistent, endocrine-disrupting and bio-accumulating chemicals, nanoparticles and electromagnetic radiation, and binding themselves to identify those risks and eliminate them as far as possible by 2015.

Furthermore, they acknowledge the importance of developing and using existing information for policy-making and the application of the precautionary principle, where appropriate, in respect of new and emerging issues.

Efforts to cut the incidence of acute and chronic respiratory diseases through reduction of exposure to ultrafine particles and particulate matter in line with WHO's air quality guidelines remain an important goal.

In addition, governments have declared to provide incentives and opportunities to ensure that citizens have access to sustainable, clean and healthy energy solutions in homes and public places.

On a broader note, governments committed themselves to protecting health and well-being, natural resources and ecosystems and to promoting health equity, health security and healthy environments in a changing climate.

They will integrate health issues in all climate-change mitigation and adaptation measures, policies and strategies at all levels and in all sectors and strengthen health promotion in environmental policies.

Governments also recognise that the healthcare sector is one of the largest consumers of energy and are in favour of collaboration to increase the health sector's contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen its leadership on energy and resource-efficient management.

On a final note, Ms Jakab said that "... this conference has opened an exciting new chapter in the way European governments work on environment and health - helping to push these closely inter-related issues higher up the political agenda."

A European Environment and Health Task Force and a European Environment and Health Ministerial Board will be established to further strengthen the environment and health process.

The Sixth European Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health will be held in 2016.

The author, a medical doctor working in public health, is a member of the National Climate Change Adaptation Committee.