Free Online Training! WHO/Europe Health Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT) for walking and cycling

WHO/Europe’s Health Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT) for walking and cycling is an online resource to estimate the economic savings resulting from reductions in mortality as a consequence of regular cycling and/or walking (see www.heatwalkingcycling.org). HEAT can be used by walking and cycling campaigners, researchers and policymakers alike. It enables users to estimate the value to health of new infrastructure, policies or programmes. These can be used to make the case for new investment, or as inputs to comprehensive health impact assessments.

To help people in the use of this tool, WHO/Europe is now offering online training sessions on the following dates:
•         30 November 2012
•         14 December 2012
•         14 January 2013
•         22 February 2013
•         15 March 2013

All sessions will start at 15:00 Central European Time, and will last approximately one hour. During this time you will be walked through an example of HEAT, and be able to ask questions online to experts on HEAT.

Please register by sending an e-mail to training@heatwalkingcycling.org stating:
•         The date of the session you wish to join
•         Any details of ways that you have used the HEAT
•         Any specific questions you would like addressed during the training

We will then send you details of how to log on and access the training session in due time.

Please feel free to forward this message to other colleagues or mailing lists of possibly interested HEAT users.

Kind regards,
Christian Schweizer
Technical Officer, Transport and Health
Division of Communicable Diseases, Health Security and Environment
World Health Organization - Regional Office for Europe

Health Risks and Benefits of Cycling in Urban Environments (Spain) Compared with Car Use

Objective 

To estimate the risks and benefits to health of travel by bicycle, using a bicycle sharing scheme, compared with travel by car in an urban environment.

Design 

Health impact assessment study.

Setting

Public bicycle sharing initiative, Bicing, in Barcelona, Spain.

Participants

181 982 Bicing subscribers.

Main outcomes measures 

The primary outcome measure was all cause mortality for the three domains of physical activity, air pollution (exposure to particulate matter <2.5 µm), and road traffic incidents. The secondary outcome was change in levels of carbon dioxide emissions.

Results 

Compared with car users the estimated annual change in mortality of the Barcelona residents using Biking (n=181 982) was 0.03 deaths from road traffic incidents and 0.13 deaths from air pollution. As a result of physical activity, 12.46 deaths were avoided (benefit:risk ratio 77). The annual number of deaths avoided was 12.28. As a result of journeys by Bicing, annual carbon dioxide emissions were reduced by an estimated 9 062 344 kg.

Conclusions 

Public bicycle sharing initiatives such as Bicing in Barcelona have greater benefits than risks to health and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.


The health risks and benefits of cycling in urban environments compared with car use: health impact assessment study
David Rojas-Rueda, Audrey de Nazelle, Marko Tainio, Mark J Nieuwenhuijsen

BMJ 2011;343:doi:10.1136/bmj.d4521 (Published 4 August 2011)

Click here to go to the open access article

See also two interesting responses here and here and the study authors' reply.