The Interconnections between Environment and Health in Cross-border Regions: Contributions to Public Policies

Las Interconexiones entre Medio Ambiente y Salud en Áreas Transfronterizas: contribuciones a las Políticas Públicas

Abstract

This work sought to analyze the health and environment in the Brazilian municipalities that make up the Frontier Strip (FS), considering the unique challenges of managing these in such territory. For this purpose, the association between them was studied by collecting and analyzing secondary data, using descriptive statistics, mapping, and cluster analysis. The main results demonstrated the lack of public policies, particularly for environmental and health issues in activities of municipal border governments, and the discussions that incorporate intersectionality in planning are even more limited. Of the 94.7% of municipalities analyzed, 53.6% presented an average performance on the environmental issue, and 81.3% a low or very low one on health, probably due to the fact that environmental aspects have gained more attention in the context of Brazilian FS compared to health ones. Finally, the study points out the implications of these results, which can subsidize public policies.

Keywords:
Border Region; Public Policy; Public Health; Environmental Health; Sustainable Development