Press Release

[Index]

For the first time European countries meet to reduce water-related diseases
by improving water management

Geneva, 9 January 2007 -- The first meeting of the Parties to the Protocol on Water and Health to the 1992 Convention on Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes will be held in Geneva from 17 to 19 January 2007. The meeting is organized by UNECE and the WHO Regional Office for Europe, which are jointly servicing the Protocol.

The Parties are expected to launch ambitious programmes to reduce the burden of water-related diseases reported in the order of hundred thousand cases per year in the European region, by improving water management, through national action and international assistance.

The Protocol is the first international agreement aiming at protecting human health and well being by improving water management, including the protection of water ecosystems, and by preventing, controlling and reducing water-related diseases. It entered into force in 2005 and has now been ratified by 20 countries¹ from across the pan-European region. Seventeen more countries have signed it,² some of which are well on their way to becoming a Party, and more countries are welcome to join.

What: Press conference

Where: Palais des Nations, Salle III, Geneva

When: 17 January 2007, 14:00 hours

Speakers:

• Kaj Bärlund, Director, Environment, Housing and Land Management Division, UNECE
• Dr. Roberto Bertollini, Director, Special Programme on Health and Environment, WHO Regional Office for Europe
• Lucia Ana Varga, Secretary of State, Ministry of Environment and Water Management, Romania

Contacts:

Jean Michel Jakobowicz, Public Information Officer, UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), Tel: +41(0)22 917 44 44, E-mail: [email protected]

Cristiana Salvi, Technical Officer Communication and Advocacy, Special Programme for Health and Environment, WHO Regional Office for Europe, Mob:(+39 348) 0192305, E-mail: [email protected]

For more information, please consult the Joint UNECE and WHO/EURO secretariat at:

¹Albania, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Switzerland, and Ukraine.

²Armenia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and United Kingdom.