Evaluation of Health Benefit from the Environmental Health Action Program Based on the Environmental Burden of Disease

Background: The Environmental Health Action Program was a national project carried out from 2012~2021. It was aimed at developing public technologies to protect people's health from various environmental hazards. Objectives: One of the final goals of the project was “creating health benefits worth more than 179.2 billion won by reducing the environmental burden of disease.” This study aims to evaluate whether the program sufficiently achieved the planned benefits. Methods: In order to secure consistency in evaluation, we applied the same equation used in the goal-setting process. It is comprised of six parameters to estimate the benefit: 1. The amount of medical expenses for environmental diseases; 2. The attributable proportion of environmental risk factors’ 3. The rate of reduction in medical expenses for environmental diseases; 4. R&D project contribution; 5. The proportion of successful policy reflection; and 6. The contributions of the project. The corresponding variables were estimated at the end of the project, and the health benefits of the project were recalculated using the newly estimated variables. Results: It was estimated that a total of 195 billion won in health benefits occurred or will occur from 2015 to 2026. The main contributors for achieving the target were an increase in medical expenses for environmental diseases, a high score in the R&D project contribution, and the proportion of successful policy reflection. Conclusions: Technically, the equation used in the project is about medical expenses for environmental diseases rather than about the environmental burden of disease. There are several benefits of using the environmental burden of disease in the evaluation of public health policies. In further studies, developing a policy evaluation framework using indicators such as population attributable fraction would be needed.