SDGs and public health policies: implementing the S2D grid in the city of Lausanne, Switzerland.

Sustainable development goals (SDGs) and public health are often considered as separate policy fields, whereas there is a considerable potential in better coordinating their objectives and measures. Using an analytical grid (S2D grid) linking SDGs and public health objectives and comprising 6 thematic issues and 56 categories, the research team conducted an assessment of health promotion programs in the city of Lausanne, Switzerland. Their objective was to determine whether SDGs and public health concerns can translate into complementary policy objectives, and what was the level of achievement of Lausanne in terms of implementation, intersectoral collaboration and avoidance of redundancy, regarding the vast array of measures potentially dealing with SDGs and health promotion. Results show that measures implemented by Lausanne deal with 80% of categories included in the S2D grid, with a high level of intersectorality and a low level of redundancy. These results also emphasize the fact that linkages between SDGs and health promotion go well beyond the SDG 3 dedicated to 'good health and well-being', and that the S2D grid could be used as a tool in favor of organizational change, promoting the collaboration between stakeholders often reluctant to engage in public health policies.

Rethinking conceptual frameworks and models of health and natural environments.

This article considers conceptual frameworks and models applied in research about the multiple relations between human contact with natural environments (specifically green public spaces), diverse kinds of human activities and uses of those spaces, and effects on physical and mental health. Conceptual frameworks are tools for thinking about such complex subjects. Conceptual models represent the multiple relations between key factors and variables. These models can be used to represent the mutual interactions between the core components of environmental conditions of specific green public spaces, the main kinds of human activities in those settings, and various impacts on health. A literature search showed that the authors of various conceptual models used a metaphor of pathways to represent relations between explanatory variables by linear cause-effect relations. Mutual interaction between key variables and feedback loops between different components of the model are rarely included. Hence, it is argued that these models do not represent the complexity of real world situations. The authors propose a systemic conceptual framework founded on core principles of human ecology. The proposed conceptual framework and model have been formulated during and after an EU 7th Framework project about the ''Positive Health Effects of the Natural Outdoor Environment in Typical Populations in Different Regions of Europe."

The Swiss NEHAP: why it ended.

While European countries tend to increase the importance given to their national environmental health action plan (NEHAP), Switzerland stopped implementing its NEHAP in 2007. This study investigates the reasons for this surprising decision. The results provide an explanation of a relatively unique case and should inform any person interested in understanding common obstacles in the making and implementation of coordinated environmental health policies and programs. Data used in this study have been obtained from interviews conducted among experts of the Swiss environmental health policies and from survey results provided by the WHO Regional Office for Europe. Findings show that financial constraints were only partly responsible for the abandonment of the NEHAP and that many of the shortcomings observed arose from the creation and the functioning of the Environmental and Health Section at the Federal Office of Public Health, which was devoted to the NEHAP. Lack of scientific knowledge and capacity to build intersectoral collaboration, compounded by a limited conception of environmental health, resulted in a lack of political awareness of environmental health issues. In consequence, the study highlights the necessity of a true interdisciplinary and intersectoral approach for environmental health policies. Policy makers should also be concerned with the creation of relevant systems of indicators, since they appear to be fundamental to the success of environmental health policies.