Photo story: Environment and Health Ministerial Board meets and the expanded WHO European Centre for Environment and Health opens

Photo 1. Participants at the second meeting of the European Environment and Health Ministerial Board, held in Bonn, Germany on 14 February 2012, agreed to set priorities to put before the sixty-second session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe in September. Photo: WHO/Nicoletta di Tanno

Photo 2. The Board agreed to develop a common statement, linking health to sustainable development, for the forthcoming United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio +20 (from left: Dr G. Rodier, Dr S. Matic, and Ms. Z. Jakab, WHO/Europe; Mr L. Borbély, Minister of Environment and Forests, Romania). Photo: WHO/Nicoletta di Tanno

Photo 3. The launch of the expanded WHO European Centre for Environment and Health (ECEH) was held the same day: participants included (from left) Daniel Bahr, German Federal Minister for Health; Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe; Norbert Röttgen, German Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety; and Jürgen Nimptsch, Lord Mayor of Bonn. Photo: WHO/Nicoletta di Tanno

Photo 4. Ms Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe, thanked the Federal Government of Germany for expanding its partnership with WHO and its outstanding support for work on environment and health. Photo: WHO/Nicoletta di Tanno

Photo 5. Emphasizing the importance of healthy environments, Dr Norbert Röttgen, German Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, invited WHO to develop additional advice and tools for policy-makers in the European Region. Photo: WHO/Nicoletta di Tanno

Photo 6. Mr Daniel Bahr, German Federal Minister of Health, highlighted the environment and health as part of primary prevention. Photo: WHO/Nicoletta di Tanno

Photo 7. Mr Jürgen Nimptsch, Lord Mayor of Bonn, welcomed the expansion of ECEH as part of the city’s United Nations community. Photo: WHO/Nicoletta di Tanno

Photo 8. Heads of other United Nations agencies based in Bonn, scientists, and representatives of WHO/Europe, other institutions and WHO collaborating centres participated in the launch ceremony, and journalists from the main German media outlets reported on the event. Photo: WHO/Nicoletta di Tanno

Photo 9. A new report on environmental health inequalities, finding that exposure to environmental risks is five times greater for the poor, was also released. Photo: WHO/Nicoletta di Tanno

Photo 10. Thanks to additional funding from Germany, ECEH is broadening the scope of its work in four main areas: climate change and sustainable development, exposure to key environmental risks, environmental health intelligence and forecasting, and the management of natural resources. Photo: WHO/Nicoletta di Tanno

Photo 11. “The renewed WHO European Centre for Environment and Health is now open and fully at the service of Member States to secure better health and environments in Europe,” concluded Ms Jakab. Photo: WHO/Nicoletta di Tanno