We need imaginative city planning which redirects spending on roads to public transport, footpaths and cycleways
The classic divisions of environmental health by the vectors food, air and water lend themselves to studies of the causes of disease, but the best approach when looking for environmental health interventions is to focus on the organised areas of human activity that have the greatest impact on the environment — housing, employment, manufacturing and transport. Of all these, transport provides perhaps the greatest potential for health gain, at least in First World countries. The choices we make in transport bear directly on the health of the population.
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- Department of Public Health, Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Wellington, New Zealand.
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