Health issues in transport and the implications for policy

This paper produced by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) reviews current literature on the relationship between health and transport and poor communities. In particular, it focuses on the benefits of facilitating improved access to health and the negative side effects of the spread of disease through transport sector workers and the problem of road accidents. The authors argue that transport improvements have considerable potential to improve the health of the poor if combined with health care provision improvements that tackle the key issues of cost and quality. They point to a clear need for health and transport policies to be developed in an integrated way in relation to the development of rural areas rather than the traditional sectoral approach used in the past.

The paper’s overall conclusion is that development programmes need to adopt multi-dimensional approaches even at the project level. Community-based interventions using livelihoods methodologies can encourage this but it is important that transport and road improvement projects recognise and build in positive contributions to health. Similarly, health policies and projects need to consider transport impacts on health and both sectors should make use of each other’s specialists [adapted from author].