SUSTAINABILITY INDICATORS AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH ASSESSMENT: AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO SOCIETY, ENVIRONMENT, AND TERRITORY

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze sustainability indicators and their contribution to environmental health assessment, discussing models and systems applied to diagnosis, monitoring, planning, and decision-making for sustainable development. This integrative literature review adopted a qualitative approach and was based on national and international scientific articles published between 2015 and 2025, retrieved from the SciELO, Scopus, and CAPES Journals Portal databases. The results showed that sustainability indicators enable the integration of environmental, social, health-related, and territorial information, the identification of vulnerabilities and inequalities, and the establishment of intervention priorities. Among the instruments analyzed, the DPSIR-based FPSEEA framework (Driving Force, Pressure, State, Exposure, Effect, Action), the Environmental Healthiness Index, Environmental Public Health Tracking, and Environmental Health Surveillance indicators stood out. Their applications demonstrated the potential to assess risks, exposures, sanitation conditions, and environmental effects on health across different territorial contexts. It is concluded that sustainability indicators are strategic tools for producing integrated assessments, strengthening socio-environmental monitoring, and informing public policies, provided that their selection considers territorial specificities, the quality of available data, and coordination among different sectors and institutions, thereby promoting more effective, integrated actions tailored to the needs of the populations and local territories under analysis.