Originally published 27 February 2003

Three of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) leading housing specialists are to speak at a special conference on (un)Healthy Housing at the University of Warwick on 19th –21st March.

Dr Romualdas Saballiauska, Chair of WHO’s European Task Force on Housing and Health, Xavier Bonnefoy and Matthias Braubach, both from the WHO European Centre for Environment and Health, will join other speakers from countries as diverse as Ethiopia, Australia, Canada and Denmark, at the special conference organised by the University of Warwick’s School of Law. Other distinguished speakers include Professor Roderick Lawrence from University of Geneva, and Dr Noel Olsen of the British Medical Association. The conference is co-sponsored by WHO, the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, and the Royal Society for the promotion of Health.

The conference will consider how housing conditions impact on the health service, as well as the physical, social and mental well-being of the household. Mechanisms for monitoring, controlling and improving housing conditions will be considered, and recent research in the health effects of housing are included.

The conference will compare and contrast international approaches to housing. On the UK side the conference will consider the “Housing Health and Safety Rating System” developed as a new approach to assessing housing conditions.

Anyone interested in further information on the conference should contact: Alison Solman, School of Law, University of Warwick, CV4 7AL, Tel: 024 7652 3291 Fax: 024 7657 2745, Email: Alison.Solman@warwick.ac.uk