accidents and injuries

EPHA Briefing on Children’s Health

This EPHA Briefing on Children’s Health aims to provide Members with an overview of important policy fields where such actions could be taken to adequately, timely, in line with "health in all policies" and with a lifecourse approach deal with social determinants of health inequalities in European societies. Children represent the present and the future of our societies, and to guarantee their healthy and optimal development ought to be a priority. Early childhood is a critical time. (...)

Economic crisis: Fuel poverty impacts on health inequalities

A new Report shows that fuel poverty increases respiratory, cardiovascular and mental health diseases. In addition, it also impacts on educational achievements of children, dietary choices, and increased home injuries and accidents. Commissioned by Friends of the Earth UK, the Marmot Review Team produced a comprehensive review realigning the environmental and health agendas to provide powerful evidence on the health benefits of reducing fuel poverty and improving the thermal efficiency of (...)

WHO report on Environmental burden of disease associated with inadequate housing.

The WHO Europe published a report on the environmental burden of disease associated with inadequate housing. It provides substantial evidence on the consequences of bad housing on health. The report - entitled "Environmental burden of disease associated with inadequate housing. Methods for quantifying health impacts of selected housing risks in the WHO European Region. Summary report." - looks at several health issues that would be improved with adequate housing: indoor dampness and (...)

Child Injury prevention takes on new TACTICS to get the job done

Every year, unintentional injuries kill nearly 42 000 children and young people under the age of 20 in the WHO European Region. TACTICS - Tools to Address Childhood Trauma - is a large scale, multi-year initiative of the European Child Safety Alliance, funded by the European Commission, with the aim to provide better information, practical tools and resources to support adoption and implementation of evidence-based good practices in Europe. EPHA partners the project. In order to make the (...)

Highlights from the 2011 World Health Assembly

The 64th World Health Assembly took place in Geneva from the 16th to the 24th of May. A total number of 28 resolutions and three decisions were adopted, among which some were characterized as ‘historical’. Introduction The Conference lasted for 8 days, and was introduced by the opening speeches from Dr Margaret Chan Director-General of the WHO (speech), Sheikh Hasina Prime Minister of Bangladesh (speech), and Bill Gates co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (...)

WHO Decade of Action for Road Safety - saving lives and money

Road accidents and injuries are biggest cause of mortality and disability among the youngest and most productive part of our societies. Road safety is a key element of sustainable transport policies creating healthier and wealthier societies. With this goal, WHO Europe has launched the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 and a new health economic assessment tool for transport. Road-traffic crashes kill over 350 Europeans every day, or over 120 000 per year. Almost half of them are (...)

The 3rd European injury prevention conference organised by EuroSafe

EuroSafe organizes the 3rd conference with the Hungarian Presidency of the Council in Budapest, 16-17 June 2011. The 3rd European injury prevention conference is a major international event bringing stakeholders in the prevention of accidents and injuries from Europe and other continents to exchange, debate and discuss the latest results in injury research, policies and practices. The conference is being co-sponsored by the European Commission and the WHO Regional Office for Europe. All (...)

Council of Europe adopts Convention on Violence against Women

The Council of Europe has adopted a Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence and Domestic Violence Against Women. Now national governments need to ratify the Convention by 11 May 2011. At their 1111th meeting on 6 April 2011, the Ministers’ Deputies adopted the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence and Domestic Violence against Women. The Convention is now open for signature to all states, in Europe and beyond, until 11 May 2011, when the next (...)

European Parliament calls for an EU directive to combat violence against women

The European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for an EU directive to combat gender-based violence. According to the proposal, rape and other forms of sexual violence against women should be classified as crimes in all EU Member States, which would lead to automatic prosecution. Drafted by MEP Eva-Britt Svensson (GUE/NGL, Sweden) and adopted unanimously in plenary on 5 April 2011, the resolution presents ’priorities and outline of a new EU policy framework to fight violence (...)

Meeting report: 2011 International Women’s Day on Ending violence against women and girls

This year’s International Women’s Day focused on the theme of violence against women and girls. On this occasion, UN Women - United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women - invited the representatives of civil society - European Women’s Lobby - and the European Commission DG Justice, to hold a discussion on the issue of violence against women in the European context. The recent UN Campaign "Say NO - UNiTE against violence against women" set the (...)