Improved housing conditions can save lives, prevent disease, increase quality of life, reduce poverty, and help mitigate climate change. Housing is becoming increasingly important to health in light of urban growth, ageing populations and climate change.

The WHO Housing and health guidelines bring together the most recent evidence to provide practical recommendations to reduce the health burden due to unsafe and substandard housing. Based on newly commissioned systematic reviews, the guidelines provide recommendations relevant to inadequate living space (crowding), low and high indoor temperatures, injury hazards in the home, and accessibility of housing for people with functional impairments. In addition, the guidelines identify and summarize existing WHO guidelines and recommendations related to housing, with respect to water quality, air quality, neighbourhood noise, asbestos, lead, tobacco smoke and radon. The guidelines take a comprehensive, intersectoral perspective on the issue of housing and health and highlight co-benefits of interventions addressing several risk factors at the same time.

The WHO Housing and health guidelines aim at informing housing policies and regulations at the national, regional and local level and are further relevant in the daily activities of implementing actors who are directly involved in the construction, maintenance and demolition of housing in ways that influence human health and safety. The guidelines therefore emphasize the importance of collaboration between the health and other sectors and joint efforts across all government levels to promote healthy housing. The guidelines’ implementation at country-level will in particular contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals on health (SDG 3) and sustainable cities (SDG 11). WHO will support Member States in adapting the guidelines to national contexts and priorities to ensure safe and healthy housing for all.

Contents

• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations and acronyms
• Executive summary
• 1. Introduction
  • 1.1. Housing and health
  • 1.2. WHO Housing and health guidelines
• 2. Guideline development process
  • 2.1. Contributors to the guidelines
  • 2.2. Identification of priority questions and critical outcomes
  • 2.3. Evidence identification and retrieval
  • 2.4. Quality assessment and grading of the evidence
  • 2.5. Formulation of recommendations
  • 2.6. Decision-making during the GDG meetings
  • 2.7. Declaration of interests by external contributors
  • 2.8. Document preparation and peer review
• 3. Household crowding
  • Question for the systematic review
  • 3.1. Guideline recommendation
  • 3.2. Summary of evidence
  • 3.3. Considerations for implementation of the guideline recommendation
  • 3.4. Research recommendations
• 4. Low indoor temperatures and insulation
  • Question for the first systematic review (exposure)
  • Question for the second systematic review (intervention)
  • 4.1. Guideline recommendations
  • 4.2. Summary of evidence
  • 4.3. Considerations for implementation of the guideline recommendations
  • 4.4. Research recommendations
• 5. High indoor temperatures
  • Question for the systematic review
  • 5.1. Guideline recommendation
  • 5.2. Summary of evidence
  • 5.3. Considerations for implementation of the guideline recommendation
  • 5.4. Research recommendations
• 6. Injury hazards
  • Question for the systematic review
  • 6.1. Guideline recommendation
  • 6.2. Summary of evidence
  • 6.3. Considerations for implementation of the guideline recommendation
  • 6.4. Research recommendations
• 7. Housing accessibility
  • Question for the systematic review
  • 7.1. Guideline recommendation
  • 7.2. Summary of evidence
  • 7.3. Considerations for implementation of the guideline recommendation
  • 7.4. Research recommendations
• 8. WHO guidelines for other key housing risk factors
  • 8.1. Water
  • 8.2. Air quality
  • 8.3. Tobacco smoke
  • 8.4. Noise
  • 8.5. Asbestos
  • 8.6. Lead
  • 8.7. Radon
  • 8.8. Additional WHO guidance related to housing
• 9. Implementation of the WHO Housing and health guidelines
  • 9.1. Health in All Policies and housing
  • 9.2. Co-benefits from multifactorial interventions
  • 9.3. Economic considerations for improving housing conditions
  • 9.4. Training needs
  • 9.5. Dissemination
  • 9.6. Monitoring and evaluation: assessing the impact of the guidelines
• 10. Updating and expanding the guidelines
• References
• Web Annex A. Report of the systematic review on the effect of household crowding on health
• Web Annex B. Report of the systematic review on the effect of indoor cold on health
• Web Annex C. Report of the systematic review on the effect of insulation against cold on health
• Web Annex D. Report of the systematic review on the effect of indoor heat on health
  Karen Head, Mike Clarke, Meghan Bailey, Alicia Livinski, Ramona Ludolph, and Ambrish Singh.
• Web Annex E. Report of the systematic review on the relationship between hazards in the home and injuries
  Soumyadeep Bhaumik, Claire Allen, Saurabh Gupta, Ramona Ludolph, and Mike Clarke.
• Web Annex F. Report of the systematic review on potential benefits of accessible home environments for people with functional impairments
  Malcolm MacLachlan, Hea Young Cho, Mike Clarke, Hasheem Mannan, Bonnix Kayabu, Ramona Ludolph, and Eilish McAuliffe.
• Web Annex G. Estimation of minimal risk and maximum acceptable temperatures for selected cities
  Lidia Morawska and Phong Thai.

Suggested citation:

WHO Housing and health guidelines. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2018. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.

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