Commissioner: Onno Van Schayck, PhD
“Pollution is a silent killer. This is especially true for air pollution, the most devastating form of pollution. You cannot see it, but it kills every year millions of people around the globe.”
Prof.dr. C.P. van Schayck is professor of Preventative Medicine of Maastricht University. (Bio below)
Why did you decide to join the Global Commission on Pollution + Health?
I decided to join the Commission on Pollution and Health as pollution is the world’s largest environmental threat to health especially killing the poor in low- and middle-income countries.
What impact will the work of the Commission have?
The work of the Commission will hopefully open the eyes of heads of states and governments that pollution is costly and control strategies are available and have proven to be cost-effective
How can we overcome obstacles to progress in the fight against pollution? What changes do you hope to see in your lifetime?
We can overcome obstacles to progress in the fight against pollution by showing obtainable and inspiring examples. A good example are improved cook stoves reducing the exposure to indoor air pollution. This will save millions of lives in the coming years, especially for those who live in slums with no access to clean fuels.
Prof.dr. C.P. van Schayck is professor of Preventative Medicine of Maastricht University. He is Scientific Director of the Netherlands Research School CaRe, consisting of four Scientific Institutes in the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Utrecht, Nijmegen and Maastricht). He is clinical leader of the Centre for Care Technology Research (CCTR) and project leader of many research projects related to the area of CCTR. He supervised more than 60 PhD students as promotor. He has published more than 450 papers in International Journals and has been acknowledged as the most cited researcher in the world in his specific research area. He is honorary professor in Edinburgh. He is member of The Health Council of the Netherlands, member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of many national and international funding agencies. He is commissioner of the Global Commission on Pollution + Health.
The Commission on Pollution and Health is an initiative of The Lancet, the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution (GAHP), and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Commissioners include many of the world’s leading researchers and practitioners in the fields of pollution management, environmental health and sustainable development.
