Health in human settlements refers to all the dimensions of the wellbeing, illness and injury of a population that are influenced or determined by the ecological, biochemical, physical, geographical and social components of settlements and the surrounding countryside.
This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities.
The number of neighbourhoods in cities in the European Region with compound environmental, economic, health and other social problems has increased since 1989.