Health effects of noise: health community’s policy recommendations Roberta Savli Health & Environment Alliance (HEAL)

About HEAL

Our members Over 75 members in > 28 countries Environmental groups Patient groups Doctors Women’s groups Scientists Nurses Youth groups Public health research institutes Public health insurers Promoting environmental policies that contribute to good health 3

Our global partners World Health Organisation Global Climate and Health Alliance IPEN a toxic free future Chemical Assessment Health Advisory Committee World Medical Association United Nations Environment Programme Collaborative on Health and the Environment Science Global Alliance on Health and Pollution 4

HEAL strategic objectives to 2020 PREVENT: Target priorities Integrate health prevention into environment policy and sustainable development by bringing health science to people and policy makers UNITE: Bridge global and local action Develop a global collaborative network of partners with fully engaged members & build strong grassroots capacity COMMUNICATE: Mobilise for healthy people and a healthy planet Raise awareness & consolidate as international hub for health and environmental information, science and policy development

Noise pollution in Europe

The 5 Ws to lead actions on noise WHAT? Environmental noise, a critical public health concern WHY? Noise is the second largest environmental cause of health problems, just after the impact of air quality WHERE? 44% of Europeans (over 210 million people) regularly exposed to noise levels considered potentially dangerous to health + growing problem due to proliferation of urban settings WHO? European Union and Member States WHEN? By 2020, significantly decrease noise pollution, moving closer to levels recommended by WHO One of the goals of the 7th Environment Action Programme, Living well, within the limits of our planet

Health effects of noise WHO: at least one million healthy life years lost every year from traffic-related noise in Western Europe Mortality Disease (insomnia, cardiovascular) Risk factors (blood pressure, cholesterol, blood clotting, glucose) Stress indicators (autonomous response, stress hormones) Feeling of discomfort (disturbance, annoyance, sleep disturbance) 10,000 yearly premature deaths 910,000 cases of hypertension and 43 thousand hospital admissions per year Severity 8 million suffer from sleep disturbance: 1/5 Europeans regularly exposed to sound levels at night harmful for their health Number of people affected

Noise pollution from a public health perspective Rise of chronic diseases in the EU, caused or exacerbated by noise pollution Ensuring children’s health and well-being Ensuring same level of health protection from environmental noise for all EU citizens: reducing inequalities Significant health costs: 50-100 billion Euros per year Citizens’ concern about health impacts of noise

Conclusions & policy recommendations

Future of noise – I Need to have more EU action and not less (policy with clear EU added value) Need to implement 7 EAP: protect citizens health and quality of life by moving closer to WHO guidelines by 2020 Better implementation of Environmental Noise Directive City design (urban mobility and land-using plans, win-win for reducing noise and air pollution exposure) Parking and loading controls, delivery time windows Promotion of low emission vehicles, based on performance Modal shift to an increased share of walking and cycling (pedestrianisation and bike lanes) Better and accessible public transport network Inclusion of different traditional transport modes, such as bike, car and ride sharing Information to public (e.g.: awareness raising campaigns, innovative tools)

Future of noise – II Setting limit or target values in the review of the END + adoption of comprehensive noise action plan integrating noise into other EU policies Tackling noise pollution at source More stringent legislation on vehicle noise Acoustic protection and classification of dwellings: e.g., DG ENV smart buildings considering noise within the indicators (currently, only additional aspect/box to check) Follow-up to Parma Declaration, actions on noise to be foreseen in the Declaration of the Sixth Ministerial Conference on Health and Environment

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