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The World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), through the Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP), are responsible for global monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets for drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). The SDGs represent a fundamental shift in household WASH monitoring with a new focus on service levels and the incorporation of hygiene. This article reflects on the process of establishing SDG baselines and the methods used to generate national, regional and global estimates for the new household WASH indicators. The JMP 2017 update drew on over 3000 national data sources, primarily household surveys (n = 1443), censuses (n = 309) and administrative data (n = 1494). Whereas most countries could generate estimates for basic drinking water and basic sanitation, fewer countries could report on basic handwashing facilities, water quality and the disposal of waste from onsite sanitation. Based on data for 96 and 84 countries, respectively, the JMP estimates that globally 2.1 billion (29%) people lacked safely managed drinking water services and 4.5 billion (61%) lacked safely managed sanitation services in 2015. The expanded JMP inequalities database also finds substantial disparities by wealth and sub-national regions. The SDG baselines for household WASH reveal the scale of the challenge associated with achieving universal safely managed services and the substantial acceleration needed in many countries to achieve even basic services for everyone by 2030. Many countries have begun to localise the global SDG targets and are investing in data collection to address the SDG data gaps, whether through the integration of new elements in household surveys or strengthening collection and reporting of information through administrative and regulatory systems.

Background Policies on waste disposal in Europe are heterogeneous and rapidly changing, with potential health implications that are largely unknown. We conducted a health impact assessment of landfilling and incineration in three European countries: Italy, Slovakia and England. Methods A total of 49 (Italy), 2 (Slovakia), and 11 (England) incinerators were operating in 2001 while for landfills the figures were 619, 121 and 232, respectively. The study population consisted of residents living within 3 km of an incinerator and 2 km of a landfill. Excess risk estimates from epidemiological studies were used, combined with air pollution dispersion modelling for particulate matter (PM 10 ) and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ). For incinerators, we estimated attributable cancer incidence and years of life lost (YoLL), while for landfills we estimated attributable cases of congenital anomalies and low birth weight infants. Results About 1,000,000, 16,000, and 1,200,000 subjects lived close to incinerators in Italy, Slovakia and England, respectively. The additional contribution to NO 2 levels within a 3 km radius was 0.23, 0.15, and 0.14 μg/m 3 , respectively. Lower values were found for PM 10 . Assuming that the incinerators continue to operate until 2020, we are moderately confident that the annual number of cancer cases due to exposure in 2001-2020 will reach 11, 0, and 7 in 2020 and then decline to 0 in the three countries in 2050. We are moderately confident that by 2050, the attributable impact on the 2001 cohort of residents will be 3,621 (Italy), 37 (Slovakia) and 3,966 (England) YoLL. The total exposed population to landfills was 1,350,000, 329,000, and 1,425,000 subjects, respectively. We are moderately confident that the annual additional cases of congenital anomalies up to 2030 will be approximately 2, 2, and 3 whereas there will be 42, 13, and 59 additional low-birth weight newborns, respectively. Conclusions The current health impacts of landfilling and incineration can be characterized as moderate when compared to other sources of environmental pollution, e.g. traffic or industrial emissions, that have an impact on public health. There are several uncertainties and critical assumptions in the assessment model, but it provides insight into the relative health impact attributable to waste management.

BackgroundRoad traffic injuries are the leading cause of premature death in young people aged 5–29 years in the WHO European Region. The Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020 was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2010 to reduce the global toll of road traffic injuries by 2020.MethodsThis fact sheet describes the status of road safety in 52 out of the 53 Member States of the WHO European Region, representing 95% of the Region’s population. Experts from several sectors in each country reached consensus to complete a self-administered questionnaire. Furthermore, an independent expert analysis of national legislative documents was conducted.ResultsIn 2013, there were almost 85 000 deaths from road traffic injuries in the WHO European Region. Although the regional mortality rate is the lowest when compared to other WHO regions, with 9.3 deaths per 100 000 population, there are wide disparities in the rates of road traffic deaths between countries of the Region. This requires more systematic efforts if the global target of a 50% reduction in road crash deaths is to be achieved by 2020. Laws and practices on key risk factors such as regulating speed appropriate to road type, drink–driving, and use of seat belts, motorcycle helmets and child restraints are assessed to reduce the risk of road traffic injury. While 95% of the population in the Region is covered by comprehensive laws in line with best practice for seat belts, only 47% of the population is adequately protected by laws for speed, 45% for helmet use, 33% for drink–driving and 71% for use of child restraints.ConclusionsMany countries need to further strengthen their road safety legislation and enforcement in order to protect their populations, improve road user behaviour and reduce the number of crashes. Much can be gained from improving the safety of vehicles, having better road infrastructure and promoting sustainable physically active forms of mobility as alternatives to car use. Concerted policy efforts with systems approaches are needed to protect all road users in the Region.

Background Injury prevention has featured as a relatively low priority on Government health agendas in Europe and elsewhere, the result of which has been a lack of national policy development. Successful policy making criteria have not been used to systematically evaluate injury and violence prevention policies. Aim To provide a content analysis of national policies to address violence and injury prevention in the WHO European Region so as to inform where improvements can be made in developing policy. Methods A network of health ministry focal persons, an internet search of relevant Ministry web-sites, and a Google-search using key words were used to identify national policies for violence and injury prevention. A framework was used for policy content analysis. Results The majority of national policies had been developed after 2003. 80 English-language policies from 26 countries were analysed further and 43 non-English policies from 16 countries were excluded. The majority of policies fulfilled the criteria for successful health policy making: lead body, intersectoral collaboration, budgets, government approval, defined implementations, timeframe, evaluation. Some areas warranted attention such as quantitative objectives, target population and implementing interventions not based on evidence. Conclusions Encouraging progress is being made in the WHO European Region. Following the criteria for successful policy making more closely could increase the effectiveness of the preparation and implementation of policies for violence and injury prevention. Areas that warrant attention include setting targets for child maltreatment and domestic violence prevention, as do certain types of injury and violence prevention such as suicide prevention.