The path to informed policies : environmental health indicators and the challenges of surveillance system in Lebanon -

Abstract

Human health is affected by multiple factors that include lifestyle, genetics, the social and physical environment, income, housing, food, access to education and health services. These factors are not the mere cause for deteriorated health conditions, but act as important risk factors. Over the years, there have been increased efforts in developed countries to bridge the gap between health and environment through adopting a monitoring system. Studies on this matter are scanty in developing countries due to several factors such as lack of funding, resources, availability of data, lack of proper legislation and political instability. As such, improved and comprehensive data is needed on the linkages between human related diseases and environmental factors to be able to inform policy and decision makers. Thus, there is a need for an environmental health surveillance system (EHSS) to monitor environmental health issues over a certain period of time, evaluate the degree of health problems in populations, detect and identify disease outbreaks or increased rates, and finally suggest and assess prevention strategies to reduce the burden of disease caused by environmental exposure to hazards. A relevant set of Environmental Health Indicators (EHIs) should be utilized to understand the relationship between health and the environment. Lebanon, like most developing countries, lacks an EHSS. Efforts have not been made in this domain due to numerous political, socio-economic, financial and technical challenges.In order to adopt an EHSS in Lebanon we must shed light on the importance of such a system to influence policy and improve human health. Accordingly, semi-structured key informant interviews were conducted with concerned authorities and stakeholders to gather detailed information about their views and perceptions of the availability and feasibility of collecting EHIs in Lebanon as well as their views on the development of an EHSS. Data was analyzed using the qualitative content analysis method by comparing similarities