In line with one of the major themes in the Bank's Environment Strategy, this 2005 annual review is devoted to the theme of environmental health. Viewpoint articles in this edition reflect several external perspectives: the World Health Organization (WHO) lays out the panorama of environmental risk factors
a successful example of combating urban air pollution is provided by the former mayor of Bogotá
successful strategies to enhance sanitation among poor people are suggested by a nongovernmental organization (NGO) - WaterAid - with an impressive implementation record
and a leading researcher gives his perspective on indoor air pollution. As usual, Environment Matters provides a Bank-wide review of our safeguard policies, and conveys the latest data on our environmental lending and analytical work. This year's feature articles all cluster around the main theme of environmental health: Ruta and Sarraf explain the basics of economic valuation of health impacts of environmental risks
Kaufmann summarizes a recent study that provides an overview of what we know about the effectiveness of interventions in water and sanitation
Ahmed and Awe return to the theme of indoor air pollution, with a study from Guatemala
Constant and Procee explain how the Bank's Clean Air Initiative works in several regions
and, Tynan concludes the section with an article on the risks that chemicals pose to human health. This edition reviews each of the Bank's Regions. With attention to the environmental health theme, each Region has chosen a number of issues and projects to feature in their annual review. This section illustrates the diversity of issues the Bank is confronting in collaboration with client countries. The regional reviews are complemented by the institutional perspectives of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which deals with private sector development, and the World Bank Institute, which is responsible for capacity building in client countries.