The World Health Organization (WHO) together with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine will begin work on a methodology for assessing the impact of environmental damage on human health.

This became known following a meeting of the ministry team with the Director for Infectious Diseases, Environment and Health, Executive Director of the WHO Regional Office for Europe, Robb Butler.

"Participants in the meeting discussed the implementation of Recommendation 5 of the Environmental Compact for Ukraine, developed by the High-Level International Working Group on the Environmental Consequences of War, chaired by Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden Margot Wallström," the message on the Telegram channel said on Monday.

As noted by the Director of the Department of Environmental Assessment of the Ministry of Environment of Ukraine, Maryna Shymkus, Ukraine does not have any methodology that would clearly determine the cause-and-effect relationships between environmental destruction as a result of the war and human health. This may cause certain difficulties in proving in international courts the facts of the negative impact of the war on the environment and public health.

"We need the help of partners in developing an appropriate document that would allow us to effectively determine such relationships. WHO has significant experience in assessing the impact of various factors on human health," the message said.

In addition, as experts noted, the development of approaches to assessing the impact of war on the environment and, accordingly, human health can be useful not only for Ukraine, but also for other countries of the world.

Also during the meeting, representatives of the Ministry of Environment emphasized the need to involve the Ministry of Health of Ukraine in cooperation.

Representatives of the WHO expressed the possibility of joint work also on issues of assessing the impact of climate change on human health and the health care system as a whole.

"For example, in the UK, 6.5% of all CO2 emissions fall on the health care sector. Therefore, the country is interested in building a health care system that will have less impact on climate change. And the WHO already has a lot of experience and research in this area," the report states.

In addition, they discussed cooperation between the Ministry of Environment and the WHO in the context of the reform of environmental education in Ukraine.