Environmental Health Assessment Services on an International Level

How do countries perceive the effect of environmental problems on health?

Canada is not alone in the battle to strengthen recognition of health in environmental assessments. Not surprisingly, the environment is a concern facing developed and developing countries alike.

What is Health Canada's Environmental Health Assessment Services doing on the international scene?

Environmental Health Assessment Services strives to encourage and promote the use of Health Canada's environmental/human health science as a valued component to environmental assessments at the national and international level. Such an example has been the involvement of our Environmental Health Assessment Services staff with the Canadian International Development Research Centre on a special project with the Association of Amazonian Universities (UNAMAZ). UNAMAZ consists of 34 universities within the eight Amazonian countries, being Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. The objective of this project was to develop an environmental and health impact assessment process in the Amazon region and to encourage and promote the exchange of information on human health assessment between Canada and UNAMAZ.

Environmental Health Assessment Services is also active with the organization known as the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA). This organization is designed to bring together researchers, practitioners, and users of environmental/health impact assessment, social impact assessment and risk assessment. With over 2500 members from 100 different countries, the goal of IAIA is to advance the state of the art of impact assessment. The IAIA annual meetings are designed to provide impact assessment practitioners with the capability to anticipate, plan and manage consequences of development so as to enhance the quality of life.