Introduction and methods: assessing the environmental burden of disease at national and local levels.

The objective of the guides is to provide practical information to countries on how to assess what fraction of a national or subnational disease burden is attributable to an environmental risk factor. To assess the disease burden of a risk factor the harmful effects of the risk factor on human health must be estimated fully as well as the distribution of the harmful effects in the population. Any estimates and assumptions used in the assessment should be stated explicitly. The outcome of the assessment is information that can be used: to guide policies and strategies both in the health sector and in the environmental sector; to monitor health risks; and to analyse the cost-effectiveness of interventions. For example the information can highlight the contribution of major environmental risk factors to the total disease burden of a country or study population. Or it can be used to estimate changes in the disease burden and avoidable disease burden following interventions to reduce an environmental risk factor or to change behaviour. (excerpt)