Institute of Medicine

Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice

Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine

Green Healthcare Institutions : Health, Environment, and Economics, Workshop Summary is based on the ninth workshop in a series of workshops sponsored by the Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine since the roundtable began meeting in 1998. When choosing workshops and activities, the roundtable looks for areas of mutual concern and also areas that need further research to develop a strong environmental science background. This workshop focused on the environmental and health impacts related to the design, construction, and operations of healthcare facilities, which are part of one of the largest service industries in the United States. Healthcare institutions are major employers with a considerable role in the community, and it is important to analyze this significant industry. The environment of healthcare facilities is unique; it has multiple stakeholders on both sides, as the givers and the receivers of care. In order to provide optimal care, more research is needed to determine the impacts of the built environment on human health. The scientific evidence for embarking on a green building agenda is not complete, and at present, scientists have limited information. Green Healthcare Institutions : Health, Environment, and Economics, Workshop Summary captures the discussions and presentations by the speakers and participants; they identified the areas in which additional research is needed, the processes by which change can occur, and the gaps in knowledge.

Health, Environment, and Economics: Workshop Summary

Green Healthcare Institutions

Global Development Goals and Linkages to Health and Sustainability is the summary of a public three-part webinar series hosted by the Global Environmental Health and Sustainable Development Innovation Collaborative between October and December, 2012. Experts within the fields of environmental and global health and members of government, academia, and civil society discussed global development goals that will focus on sustainable development to inform the Rio+20 post-2015 development agenda framework, which will likely be adopted at the September 2015 UN General Assembly. This report focuses on possible health-related measures and metrics that can be utilized for creating new Sustainable Development Goals as the Millennium Development Goals sunset in 2015, using existing measurements that can be adapted to track progress of global sustainable development and human health.

Workshop Summary

Global Development Goals and Linkages to Health and Sustainability

Biological threats like SARS and natural disasters like the tsunami in Indonesia have devastated entire regions, and quickly exhausted budgetary resources. As the field of environmental health continues to evolve, scientists and others must focus on gaining a better understanding of the links between human health and various environmental factors, and on creating new paradigms and partnerships needed to address these complex environmental health challenges facing society. Global Environmental Health in the 21st Century: From Governmental Regulations to Corporate Social Responsibility: Workshop Summary discusses the role of industry in environmental health, examines programs designed to improve the overall state of environmental health, and explores how governmental and corporate entities can collaborate to manage this industry. Stakeholders in both the public and private sectors are looking for viable solutions as the complexity of societal problems and risks associated with management and varying regulatory standards continue to increase. Global Environmental Health in the 21st Century draws critical links and provides insight into the current shape of global environmental health. The book recommends expanding environmental management systems (EMS) to encompass a more extensive global network. It also provides a complete assessment of the benefits and costs resulting from implementation of various environmental management systems.

From Governmental Regulation to Corporate Social Responsibility: Workshop Summary

Global Environmental Health in the 21st Century

Division of Health Sciences Policy

Kathi Hanna

Christine Coussens

This is a summary of the workshop Rebuilding the Unity of Health and the Environment: A New Vision of Environmental Health for the 21st Century. The goal of this workshop was to emphasize the connection between human health and the natural, built, and social environments. This workshop integrated talks from many fields and created a dialogue among various environmental health stakeholders. The language presented in this respect should not be viewed as an endorsement by the Environmental Health Sciences Roundtable or the Institute of Medicine of what action is needed for the future, but rather as an effort to synthesize the various perspectives presented.

A New Vision of Environmental Health for the 21st Century

Rebuilding the Unity of Health and the Environment

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Health and Medicine Division

In March 2015, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a workshop to explore the role that chemical exposures may play in the development of obesity. The obesity epidemic that has gripped the United States and much of the developed world for the past several decades has proved remarkably resistant to the various approaches tried by clinicians and public health officials to fight it. This raises the possibility that, in addition to the continued exploration of consumer understanding and behavior, new approaches that go beyond the standard focus on energy intake and expenditure may also be needed to combat the multifactorial problem of obesity. The speakers at the workshop discussed evidence from both studies with animal models and human epidemiological studies that exposure to environmental chemicals is linked both to weight gain and to glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity, inflammation, and other aspects of the metabolic syndrome. In addition to conventional environmental chemical exposures, this workshop also included one panel to discuss the potential role of other exposures, including sugar, artificial sweeteners, and antibiotics, in aiding or causing obesity. The participants also examined possible biological pathways and mechanisms underlying the potential linkages. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Proceedings of a Workshop

The Interplay Between Environmental Chemical Exposures and Obesity

Board on Health Sciences Policy

The purpose of this regional workshop in the Southeast was to broaden the environmental health perspective from its typical focus on environmental toxicology to a view that included the impact of the natural, built, and social environments on human health. Early in the planning, Roundtable members realized that the process of engaging speakers and developing an agenda for the workshop would be nearly as instructive as the workshop itself. In their efforts to encourage a wide scope of participation, Roundtable members sought input from individuals from a broad range of diverse fields-urban planners, transportation engineers, landscape architects, developers, clergy, local elected officials, heads of industry, and others. This workshop summary captures the discussions that occurred during the two-day meeting. During this workshop, four main themes were explored: (1) environmental and individual health are intrinsically intertwined; (2) traditional methods of ensuring environmental health protection, such as regulations, should be balanced by more cooperative approaches to problem solving; (3) environmental health efforts should be holistic and interdisciplinary; and (4) technological advances, along with coordinated action across educational, business, social, and political spheres, offer great hope for protecting environmental health. This workshop report is an informational document that provides a summary of the regional meeting.

Rebuilding Unity: Workshop Summary

Health and the Environment in the Southeastern United States

The issues surrounding water services are some of the most critical challenges facing not only the United States, but also the global community today. The Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine of the Institute of Medicine convened a workshop in October 2007, summarized in this volume, to address objectives related to Sustainable Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Services. One of the objectives of the workshop was to think about the interdependence of environmental health and human health as connected through water. Organizations cannot discuss water without considering the interrelationship of sanitation and hygiene. It is the convergence of these strategies that promotes healthy outcomes for both individuals and the environment. A second objective of the workshop was to consider how planning, management, and interdisciplinary approaches-including technology, social behavioral issues, gender, health, environment, economic, and political aspects-can be integrated to arrive at sustainable solutions. Many organizations and agencies are trying to forge a path toward sustainable practices in water, but the various sectors utilizing and governing water services are not interconnected. More integration and a greater understanding of holistic approaches are needed.

Research Gaps and Barriers for Providing Sustainable Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Services: Workshop Summary

Global Environmental Health

In 1992 world leaders met at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro to reaffirm the Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment that was established on June 16, 1972 in Stockholm. The meeting resulted in the adoption of Agenda 21 by the member states which is a framework for the transition to a more sustainable world. In 2012 the members gathered to assess and reaffirm the importance of progress towards the efforts of Agenda 21. In response to this the Institute of Medicine's (IOM's) Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine held a workshop to inform the policies that are discussed at the 2012 Earth Summit. The workshop, held in Woods Hole, Massachusetts on July 25-26, 2011, focused on the issue of sustainability and health as well as the linkages that are currently present between the two. The workshop included presentations and discussions which are summarized in Public Health Linkages with Sustainability: Workshop Summary. The report presents how different areas of public health, such as food and water resources, link to sustainability and opportunities or venues that can be examined.

Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine

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