The Hygienic
Service (Surgeon General’s Office) of the Ministry of Public Health
of the Czech Republic is continuously monitoring and assessing risk
factors affecting human health and related to the environment. The
cornerstone program is a system monitoring the health status of
population as affected by environmental factors (hereinafter
“Monitoring”). The system has been implemented pursuant to Decree of
the Government of the Czech Republic No. 369/1991, and consists of
relatively autonomous subsystems:
• The monitoring
of the health status of the population in relation to indoor and
outdoor atmosphere is provided by a set of data on the quality of
the air in the anthropogenic layer of the atmosphere and on
the incidence of respiratory diseases and health problems arising
therefrom, as well as on the quality of the indoor environment of
apartments.
• Health
consequences and risks of drinking water pollution: the
subsystem consists in a regular monitoring of drinking water
parameters (both in the waterworks and in the distribution system)
and of the incidence of epidemics and poisonings caused by the
consumption of water from the public water supply system.
• Health
consequences and disturbances caused by noise: in selected
residential parts of the city noise levels and the health status and
living style of local population are monitored.
• Health
consequences and risks posed by substances present in food
chains; the subsystem monitors human dietary exposure with
respect to food products available in food retail stores in the
Czech Republic, assesses health risks associated therewith, and
reviews the incidence of alimentary infections and poisonings.
• Health
consequences of the exposure to the outdoor environment; the
subsystem monitors the presence and concentrations of major
undesirable substances in the human body, assesses exposure
effects and possibilities of the substances damaging genetic
information.
• Demographic
and health statistics: together with other complementary methods
used to monitor the health status of people (questionnaires,
examinations) the subsystem collects and provides essential
information on the health status of the population which serves as a
baseline for assessments of outdoor environment and living style
effects.
Selected to
participate in the Health Monitoring System have been 30 towns and
cities. The selection was based on a comprehensive assessment of
living and environmental conditions. One of the selected cities is
Prague. The principal conceptual principle of the Monitoring System
consists in acquiring data by selective polls and surveys using
statistically significant population samples. As of 1994 the results
have been published in the Summary Report and Professional Annual
Reports of the Monitoring System Headquarters operating under the
auspices and in the framework of the National Institute of Public
Health in Prague.
