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About the WHO Collaborating Centre for Housing and Health

On 29th December 2006 the World Health Organization (WHO) appointed the State Health Office (Landesgesundheitsamt = LGA) as Collaborating Centre for Housing and Health. The designation is given for four years and appreciates the experience of the LGA in the issue of housing and hygiene within the scope of environmental health. The emphasis of LGA work in this field during the past includes advisory services on mould growth or indoor air pollution by chemical substances.

Thereby the work of the LGA as WHO Collaborating Centre (WHO CC) takes advantage of the specialized knowledge of its staff, the experience of numerous investigations, and its laboratory equipment for environmental health studies.

The main tasks of the LGA as WHO CC are identifying and assessing health risks particularly linked to the mode of construction, residential environment and lifestyle. We sort and collect international publications and present them in a newsletter designed for the expert community. Beyond that we make special information available to the interested public on our website. Furthermore, our own studies regarding housing and health will continue to be an essential part of our work. We will perform interdisciplinary workshops and training sessions to hand on our acquired expert knowledge to others. It is our concern to bring the different experts from medicine, architecture and building physics more closely together and to establish an efficient network of specialists.

WHO Collaborating Centres are designated throughout the world by the WHO in very different fields to form part of an international collaborating network supporting the WHO. Providing their specific scientific expertise they advise the WHO in developing preventive policies and assisting public health programs at international level.

The WHO CC for Housing and Health is closely associated with the “housing and health” programme of the European WHO Centre for Environment and Health (WHO-ECEH) based in Rome and in Bonn. The WHO-ECEH is reporting to the WHO Regional Office in Europe and encourages sustained environmental health protection. It develops recommendations and guidelines in order to support political decisions. The programme “Housing and Health” in Bonn was initiated to raise the politicians’ awareness to health aspects in the field of housing and assure an increased integration of health elements in housing policies.