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.