About WHO CC

In May 2019 the Department of Social Epidemiology of the Institute of Public Health and Nursing Research of the University of Bremen has been designated as a WHO Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health Inequalities. As a WHO Collaborating Centre the Department of Social Epidemiology assists WHO with its expertise in the research field of social inequalities in environment and health. In particular the Department of Social Epidemiology assists WHO in monitoring magnitude, spatial patterns and time trends of health-relevant environmental inequalities and in the development of a concept to estimate the health impact of environmental inequalities and in providing modules on environmental health inequalities for WHO education and training activities. In cooperation with the WHO European Centre for Environment and Health (ECEH) of the WHO Regional Office for Europe the Department of Social Epidemiology conducts several activities.

The main activities of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health Inequalities are:

• to continue and enhance the monitoring of health-relevant environmental inequalities in Europe,
• the enhancement of new environmental inequality indicators for Europe,
• the development of methodological concepts for estimating health impacts of socially unequal distributions of environmental burdens and resources with particular regard to different vulnerability across social groups,
• the provision of educational and presentation modules on environmental health inequalities as well as the implementation of these modules in future courses and workshops of the WHO.