Guideline for the identification and protection of high-risk groups

When developing preventive policies in the field of environmental health, occupational safety or public health, attention should be paid in a consistent and systematic way to population subgroups that are at an above-average risk of disease or health impairment (so-called high-risk groups). Currently, the approach followed differs considerably between policy fields, which may result in arbitrary rule. Furthermore, good democratic control requires the choice to gear (or not to gear) policies to high-risk groups to be made explicit rather than implicit, as is often the case now. That says the Health Council of the Netherlands in its advisory report Guideline for the identification and protection of high-risk groups, which was offered to the Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport and the State Secretary of Infrastructure and the Environment today.

Committee

• Prof. W.R.F. Notten, Professor of Health Management, Institute of Health Policy and Management, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Chairman
• Dr. R.A. Bausch-Goldbohm, Epidemiologist, TNO, Leiden
• Prof. F.W.A. Brom Professor of Ethics in the Life Sciences, Wageningen University and Rathenau Institute, The Hague, (until 02/20/2008)
• Dr. M.N. Pieters, Risk assessor, Director of Public Health and Care, National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven
• Prof. P.J.J. Sauer, Emeritus Professor of Paediatrics, University Medical Center, Groningen
• Prof. F.J. van Schooten, Professor of Genetic Toxicology, University Medical Center, Maastricht
• Prof. K. Stronks, Professor of Social Medicine, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam
• T. van Teunenbroek, Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, The Hague, observer
• Dr. M.F. Verweij, Ethicist, Ethics Institute, Utrecht University, (from 28/07/2009)
• Dr. M.E.J. van der Weiden, Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, The Hague, observer
• Dr. P.J.J.M. Weterings, Toxicologist, Weterings Consultancy BV, Rosmalen
• Prof. F.A. de Wolff, Emeritus Professor of Clinical and Forensic Toxicology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, (until 13/09/2010)
• Dr. H.F.G. van Dijk, Health Council of the Netherlands, The Hague, Scientific secretary