title: [Adverse health events and health hazards reflections of epidemiologists and environmentalists].
abstract: In this article we present management of water resources in Croatia as a model of integral approach in public health interventions. The links between provision of clean water, sanitation and good health are so strong that today management and water protection are deeply integrated in primary health care. This article is a follow up on topics presented on 2nd Croatian congress on preventive medicine and health promotion which gave us "state of art" in Croatian public health. We strongly believe that every system has its own advantages and downsides, and only by knowing the system well and continuous improvement we can protect ourselves in time of health, social or economic crisis. The model of water protection showed that to prevent and overcome the variety of water-related health risks, implementation of various activities that include general environmental protection, development of water management system, permanent water quality monitoring and control, and improvement of standards and legislative is needed. On the other hand if there is no holistic approach, to the public health problems, all the efforts in just one field will not result in health indicators improvement. Constant monitoring and uniform analysis of data could help to identify possible risks of adverse effects of various environmental factors and possible burden of disease as a consequence. That information could be a point of arguing with local governments and communities for public health interventions. It is important that epidemiological and environmental data do not remain in the domain of academic discussion or statistics, and never reach primary health care which could use them in direct health care providing. Information exchange in real time is important for the real time public health intervention. Primary health care is the front line in communication with patients and diagnostics of disease as well as prevention, and they need to have access to all relevant data.
authors.affiliation: University of Zagreb, School of Medicine, Croatia. kvitale@snz.hr
authors.forename: Ksenija
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vitale
authors.forename: Mladen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Smoljanović
mesh_terms: D017523:Croatia; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D015386:Hazardous Substances; D006801:Humans; D015980:Public Health Practice; D014876:Water Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D015386:Hazardous Substances