World Health Organization repository of systematic reviews on interventions in environment, climate change and health: a new resource for decision makers, intervention implementers, and researchers

Abstract

To facilitate the use of the mounting evidence on how human health is inextricably linked to the health of the planet and the urgent need for measures against the escalating triple planetary crisis, the WHO has developed a repository of systematic reviews on interventions in the area of environment, climate change and health (ECH). This commentary introduces the repository, describes its rationale and development, and points to potential future evolutions. The repository aims to provide a user-friendly tool for quickly finding systematic reviews and meta-analyses on specific ECH topics. The spreadsheet includes details on each systematic review, such as population, intervention type, control group, outcomes, and location, among other information. This supports effective assessment of the available evidence, potentially informing policy decisions across various sectors. The repository is a resource for anyone interested in the interlinkages between health and environment and is also targeted at decision makers, intervention implementers and researchers in order to identify priority issues and support evidence-based action. Furthermore, it can be used to identify areas in need of greater research. Additionally, systematic reviews of intervention effectiveness are often used for setting general guidelines and standards, for choosing the most promising intervention in a certain situation and for calculating the disease burden attributable to a specific environmental risk.