Health principles of housing

Housing is intimately related to health. At its best, appropriate housing promotes physical and mental health and provides people with psychological security, physical ties with their community and culture, and a means of expressing their identity. Unfortunately, for most people in the world, the available housing not only fails to protect them against health risks, but actually increases their exposure to environmental hazards. This publication discusses in some detail the relationships between housing and health, setting out eleven key principles. These principles cover the links between health and people's habitation and living conditions, and the public health approaches needed to ensure that maximum health benefit is obtained from housing improvements. With adaptation, as appropriate, to the local situation, they can serve as a checklist of problems to be tackled by health authorities and others involved in social development.