MNGM (ANPED Member) organised an event at the Healthy Planet Forum, Budapest. Healthy Planet Forum/ Budapest 4th Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, 22 June 2004. Along with WECF drafted the NGO/civil society declaration, known as Brussels Statement. ANPED was represented at the Healthy Planet Forum and observed the Ministerial Conference. At the Healthy Planet Forum, ANPED hosted two workshops, Environmental Justice and Health Inequalities - time for a European perspective', on the 22nd June and Environment and Health towards better inter-disciplinary working'.
Healthy Planet ForumMinisterial Conference
The Budapest workshops:
This workshop looked at how health inequalities and environmental inequalities are closely linked. Serious inequalities across Europe and within each country, and poor environmental quality is often linked both with poor health and poverty. The workshop looked at some examples and in small group discussions, offered the participants a chance to raise their own issues and case studies. It highlighted the role of NGO activity in working with communities in areas suffering from 'environmental injustice' and it provided guidance for those NGOs who wished to use this as a bases for future activity. The major areas that were looked at were: What are environmental and health inequalities and why do they matter; How health inequalities are mapped and are used as the basis action; Environmental justice and environmental rights; Developing local activity; The possibility of a European perspective and effective networking; The role of ANPED and the EPHA Environment Network. The speakers included Carolyn Stephens, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and EEHN and Chris Church, co-chair ANPED.
This workshop looked at why working relations between those working on health and environment are rarely very effective and what can be done to improve joint working. Despite clear links between many environmental and health issues it is often hard to build lasting joint work programmes. Some of these problems arise from those working in public health not seeing environmental issues as priorities; at the same time environmental organisations may fail to recognise the goals and needs of the health sector. The initial presentation presented a new research on ways to better co-operate between the two disciplines and highlighted the possible roles of ANPED and EEHN in the year ahead. Preceding this was a facilitated discussion to help identify the priorities for future work and the kind of support and materials needed. The output of the workshop was a set of priorities for action, both advocacy and networking at a European level and on the ground work by individual NGOs. This has helped set the plan for ANPED's Water, Health and Environment working group.
