The World Health Organization (WHO) has published new guidelines which bring together the most recent evidence to provide practical recommendations to reduce the health burden due to unsafe and substandard housing.
The guidelines provide new evidence-based recommendations on how to reduce major health risks associated with poor housing conditions in 4 areas:
• Inadequate living space (crowding)
• Low and high indoor temperatures
• Injury hazards in the home
• Accessibility of housing for people with functional impairments.
The guidelines also identify and summarise existing WHO guidelines and recommendations related to housing, in relation to water quality, air quality, neighbourhood noise, asbestos, lead, tobacco smoke and radon.
The guidelines take a comprehensive, intersectoral perspective on the issue of housing and health and highlight co-benefits of interventions addressing several risk factors at the same time.
The guidelines aim to inform housing policies and regulations at the national, regional and local level and emphasise the importance of collaboration between the health and other sectors and joint efforts across all government levels to promote healthy housing.
The guidelines’ implementation at country-level will in particular contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals on health (SDG 3) and sustainable cities (SDG 11). WHO will support member states in adapting the guidelines to national contexts and priorities to ensure safe and healthy housing for all.
‘WHO Housing and health guidelines’ can be accessed at: https://www.who.int/sustainable-development/publications/housing-health-guidelines/en/
