Indicators to support healthy urban gardening in urban management.

Urban gardening is part of a trend towards more parks and green areas in cities, consumption of organic, locally grown products, and a closer relationship with one's own living environment. Our literature review shows that urban gardens provide opportunities for physical activity and allow people to consume homegrown fruit and vegetables. Urban gardens may also reduce stress levels of gardeners and improve social cohesion.

The soil-water system as basis for a climate proof and healthy urban environment: opportunities identified in a Dutch case-study.

One of the effects of climate change expected to take place in urban areas in the Netherlands is an increase in periods of extreme heat and drought. How the soil can contribute to making cities more climate proof is often neglected. Unsealed soil and green spaces increase water storage capacity and can consequently prevent flooding.

Cancer incidence in Dutch Balkan veterans.

Suspicion has been raised about an increased cancer risk among Balkan veterans because of alleged exposure to depleted uranium. The authors conducted a historical cohort study to examine cancer incidence among Dutch Balkan veterans. Male military personnel (n=18,175, median follow-up 11 years) of the Army and Military Police who had been deployed to the Balkan region (1993-2001) was compared with their peers not deployed to the Balkans (n=135,355, median follow-up 15 years) and with the general Dutch population of comparable age and sex.

The burden of disease related to indoor air in the Netherlands: do different methods lead to different results?

Background: Dutch policy makers needed a knowledge base for prioritising control of different indoor air pollutants. Several burden of disease (BoD) estimates were available, but it was not known if they could be applied to The Netherlands.

Objectives: To quantify the BoD related to indoor air in The Netherlands, and to compare the outcomes with a previous study (EnVIE), which used a different BoD methodology.

Quantitative health impact assessment of transport policies: two simulations related to speed limit reduction and traffic re-allocation in the Netherlands.

Background: Few quantitative health impact assessments (HIAs) of transport policies have been published so far and there is a lack of a common methodology for such assessments.

Objective: To evaluate the usability of existing HIA methodology to quantify health effects of transport policies at the local level.

Methods: Health impact of two simulated but realistic transport interventions - speed limit reduction and traffic re-allocation - was quantified by selecting traffic-related exposures and health endpoints, modelling of population exposure, selecting exposure-effect relations and estimating the number of local traffic-related cases and disease burden, expressed in disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), before and after the intervention.