Impact of the environment on the health: From theory to practice.

The Erice 56 Charter titled "Impact of the environment on the health: from theory to practice" was unanimously approved at the end of the 56th course of the "International School of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine G. D'Alessandro" held from 3rd to November 7, 2019 in Erice - Sicily (Italy) and promoted by the Study Group of "Environment and Health" of the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health. The course, that included lectures, open discussions and guided working groups, was aimed to provide a general training on epidemiological and toxicological aspects of the environmental health impact, to be used by public health professionals for risk assessment, without forgetting the risk communications.

A proposal of hygienic and sanitary standards for the new Building Code in Italy.

The traditional emphasis of Public Health on the type and quality of housing today merges with other wider determinants of health such as: the neighbourhood, the community and the "place" where a home is located, but also the policies that make access to a healthy home within everyone's reach. At the neighbourhood scale, context-related aspects heavily influence the internal quality and real usability of the buildings themselves, with particular reference to factors such as the quality of the site, the relationship between the building and the context, the presence and quality of the greenery and open spaces surrounding the building, as well as all measures that make it possible to reduce the building's impact on the environment, to protect it against environmental pollution, and to manage the building in an integrated manner for maintenance purposes. Creating healthy living environments means referring to the different dimensions mentioned above, and this not only requires the attention of Public Health operators, but also implies an integration of vision and objectives among various professional skills and competences that puts health at the center of all policies.

From building regulations and local health rules to the new local building codes: a national survey in Italy on the prescriptive and performance requirements for a new performance approach.

Background: World Health Organization has highlighted the need to strengthen the relationship between health and built environment factors, such as inappropriate housing conditions. Building Regulations and Local Health Rules provide safety and building hygiene in construction practices. Currently the Italian Government is giving rise to a Building Regulation Type and the paper aims to verify the present contents of recent innovative Local Health Rules and Building Regulations of several Italian municipalities for supporting the performance approach of the future Building Regulations including hygienic issues.

[Reporting a cluster of lymphohaematopoietic cancers and management of the communication process with the community: the experience of a Local health Authority in Tuscany, Italy].

In 2008, some general practitioners (GPs) in the area of Empoli (Tuscany Region, Central Italy), reported to the Local Health Authority (LHA), an unusually high frequency of leukemia deaths among their patients residing in a one of the municipalities of the area. The LHA decided to carry out an epidemiological investigation. An interdepartmental working group was set up, led by the Department of Prevention of the LHA, and made up of representatives of the Institute for Study, Prevention and Cancer Network (ISPRO, Florence), the G.