Development of the Navigation Guide Evidence-to-Decision Framework for Environmental Health: Version 1.0
Year: 2025
Type: editorial
Abstract: Environmental exposures, including widespread industrial pollution, impact human health and are amplified in more highly exposed communities. Policy and regulatory frameworks for making decisions and recommendations on interventions to mitigate or prevent exposures tend to narrowly focus on exposure and some health-related data related to risks. Typically, such frameworks do not consider other factors, including essentiality, health equity, and distribution of benefits and costs. Further, decisions and recommendations lack transparency regarding how they were developed. We developed the Navigation Guide Evidence-to-Decision Framework for Environmental Health (E2DFEH) to provide a structured and transparent framework incorporating a range of scientific information and factors for decision-making. We reviewed current evidence-to-decision frameworks and engaged in an iterative consensus-based process involving 30 experts from 25 organizations in the academic, government, and nonprofit sectors. The E2DFEH framework includes three Foundations that are structural factors considered as part of recommendation development: 1) Essentiality, 2) Human Rights, and 3) Quality of the Evidence. It also includes three core Criteria that guide the development of a specific recommendation, informed by an evaluation of relevant evidence: 1) Environmental Justice, 2) Maximizing Benefits and Reducing Harm, and 3) Sociocultural Acceptability and Feasibility. The framework's goal is to make the decision process transparent and comprehensive through explicit consideration of core factors important for decisions, leading to more equitable and health-protective interventions.
Authors: Nicholas Chartres, Max Aung, Susan L. Norris, Courtney Cooper, Lisa Bero, Roger Chou, Devon Payne-Sturges, wendy wagner, Jessica Wolpaw Reyes, Lisa Askie, Daniel A. Axelrad, Deysi Flores, Jill Johnston, Juleen Lam, Michaela Martinez, Keeve Nachman, Eva Rehfuess, Rachel Rothschild, Patrice Sutton, Lauren Zeise, Tracey J. Woodruff
Institutions: The University of Sydney, University of California, San Francisco, University of Southern California, Oregon Health & Science University, University of California System, University of San Francisco, Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado Anschutz, University of Colorado Denver, University of Maryland, Baltimore, University of Maryland, College Park, The University of Texas at Austin, National Bureau of Economic Research, Amherst College, National Health and Medical Research Council, Environmental Protection Agency, Make the Road New York, California State University System, California State University, East Bay, Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, Institut für Medizinische Informationsverarbeitung, Biometrie und Epidemiologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, University of Michigan, Technical University of Munich, State of California
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $4,500
OpenAlex ID: W4407999670