Italy: industrial pollution boosts health inequality

The 5th SENTIERI report was published in Italy in June 2019. SENTIERI is an ambitious Italian project collecting data on sites with identified industrial pollution.

A study of residents living near to Italian polluted sites, SENTIERI uses a standardised methodology to analyse the health profile of such areas, looking at mortality and hospitalisation rates and the incidence of cancers and birth defects. The study also looks separately at cancers contracted by children and adolescents as well as the hospitalisation rate of this age bracket. The study provides in-depth evidence of the multiple consequences for populations exposed to industrial pollution, enabling preventive measures by public health organisations to be better targeted. It also highlights the trans-generational consequences of industrial pollution.

The study covers a total of 45 sites in 319 municipalities (Italy has some 8 000 municipalities) with a total population of around 5.9 million. The data collected relates to deaths and hospitalisations in the period 2006-2013.

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