Environmental Health in Israel | 2014

Developing environmental health indicators and collecting relevant information require coordination and cooperation among stakeholders, such as: the MoH, the MoEP, the CBS, the Israel Center for Disease Control (ICDC), Health Maintenance Organizations, and NGOs.   Environmental health indicators have been developed by: 1. The WHO 2. The US Centers for National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network of the Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 3. The European Union Environment and Health Information System (ENHIS). The WHO framework includes environmental health indicators in 12 areas: socio-demographic context, air pollution, sanitation, hazardous/toxic substances, food safety, radiation, non- occupational health risks, occupational health risks, shelter, access to safe drinking water, vector- borne disease, and solid waste management. The CDC system includes indicators in 17 areas, while the ENHIS program includes 22 indicators. In 2010, the WHO proposed further development of the ENHIS guidelines so as to enable targeted evaluation of public health policy on reducing adverse health outcomes associated with priority environmental health factors. Table 1 presents selected environmental health indicators chosen from the list of the WHO, CDC, and ENHIS indicators, with high relevance to environmental health in Israel. Data availability from the MoH, the MoEP, the ICDC, or other sources is indicated. Selected Environmental Health Indicators and Data Availability in Israel  Table 1 Environmental Health in Israel 2014  Chapter 12 Annual mortality rate due to acute respiratory infections in children under 5 Incidence of morbidity due to acute respiratory infections in children under 5 Ozone days above regulatory standard PM 2.5 days above regulatory standard Hospitalizations for heart attack Air toxics (benzene and formaldehyde average air concentration) Asthma prevalence among children Emergency department visits for asthma Hospitalizations for asthma Insufficient ventilation in schools Exposures to selected indoor air pollutants in schools Radon levels in dwellings Proportion of households using coal, wood, dung, kerosene as main source of heating and cooking Air pollution Asthma Indoor Air WHO WHO CDC CDC CDC CDC CDC and ENHIS CDC CDC ENHIS proposed ENHIS proposed ENHIS WHO Available from MoH NA, Prevalence data available from annual ICDC influenza report Available from MoEP Available from MoEP Available from MoH Available from MoEP Available from ICDC surveys, most recently in 2008 Available from MoH Available from MoH NA Partial data available from MoEP Partial data available from MoEP NA Source Data Availability in Israel Indicator Environmental Health Issue - 80 -