This 71-page guide is available in English, and provides 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. More generally, an assessment of the environmental burden of disease (EBD) can be used to raise awareness and strengthen institutional capacity for reducing the impact of environmental health risks on the population. The target readership includes professionals, such as researchers in universities, government agencies or the private sector, and decision-makers at national or regional level, who are interested in quantitatively estimating the health impacts of environmental risk factors.
