Project description
How does climate change affect global health?
Often when people think of climate change, they imagine its environmental consequences (agricultural failures and extreme weather, for example) – but it also impacts the health of billions of people. The EU-funded TRIGGER project hopes to increase public awareness of the link between climate change, health and ecosystems, while building an international service for climate-related health protection. Researchers from 15 countries will look at risks posed by threats like increased heat waves, ultraviolet exposure and an increased presence of respiratory diseases. The end goal is to develop relevant guidelines and cost-effective solutions for policymakers throughout Europe.
Objective
In spite of the ambitious mitigation efforts set out globally and addressed by initiatives of the European Commission, climate change is under way and intensifying (IPCC, 2021). According to WHO estimates, the direct damage by impacts of climate change on human health is between 1.7 and 4 billion ? by 2030. The aim and ambition of TRIGGER are to deepen current understanding of the linkage between climate, health and ecosystems (exposome framework) and to use this knowledge to advance society uptake at personal and policy level. To meet the ambition, TRIGGER will commit an interdisciplinary consortium of 22 partners in 15 countries that will develop an outreaching clinical study composed by a multi-dimensional approach that capitalizes also on existing retrospective studies and will build an international climate service for global health protection, in line with COPERNICUS initiatives. TRIGGER strategy is grounded on three pillars: i) trans-disciplinary investigations to build up systemic knowledge ii) integration and usability of research results and iii) development of practical know-how and workable tools to monitor, predict and mitigate risks for human health connected to climate change. The proposal is designed around the creation of 5 newly conceived Climate-Health Connection Labs in Europe that engage citizens, practitioners and policy-makers in a co-creation process. The approach will target areas exposed to adverse impacts of climate change, such as increased heat waves, air pollution and droughts, and will address key health issues such as cardio-vascular diseases, respiratory diseases and UV exposure. By overcoming heterogeneous technological and methodological challenges, TRIGGER will provide exploitable tools to strengthen surveillance mechanisms and risk assessment, to translate robust evidence of climate-environment-health relationships into actionable information and guidelines, to identify and prioritise cost-effective policies and actions.
Fields of science
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseasesRNA virusescoronaviruses
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringair pollution engineering
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicinecardiologycardiovascular diseases
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesenvironmental sciencespollution
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation ActionsCoordinator
40126 Bologna
Italy
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Participants (20)
90014 Oulu
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40138 Bologna
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40124 Bologna
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74100 Rethimno
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86159 Augsburg
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RG2 9AX Reading
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4 Dublin
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08007 Barcelona
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22100 Lund
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15001 La Coruna
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1678 Nicosia
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2100 KOBENHAVN O
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17100 Savona
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8010 Graz
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00185 Roma
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1053 Budapest
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
08008 Barcelona
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
014 01 BYTCA
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
2800 Kgs Lyngby
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
5616 LZ Eindhoven
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
Partners (1)
1211 Geneve
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