Project Description

Nowadays there is almost unanimous scientific consensus that climate change is the major environmental problem facing the globe. Such a global change will inevitably influence nearly all aspects of life, including public health. Existing evidence indicates that the thermal stress related to the climate change is leading to an increase in heat-related deaths as well as an increase in the number of cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and respiratory incidents globally. Specifically, in a typical Mediterranean environment, like Cyprus, which is well-known for extreme thermal stress during summertime, the adverse health effects of extreme weather are expected to be more substantial. The proposed project is aiming at protecting public health and improving quality of life through (a) the assessment of the association between climate change and the acute health effects, and (b) the development of innovative prevention and mitigation strategies to reduce the health impacts of climate change in Cyprus. That will include a Heat-Health-Watch-WarningSystem (HHWWS) as well as the development of guidelines for public health intervention policies.

The above objectives are going to be met through close co-operation between 3 multidisciplinary groups: (a) the epidemiology and statistics group, (b) the meteorology and air quality group, and (c) the public and environmental health group. Specifically, the above groups will join their research efforts to prevent and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change on human health, through the following actions: (a) the analysis of the meteorological data which will provide a synoptic classification index for meteorologically homogeneous days in terms of the prevailing air mass types, (b) the analysis of the mortality and hospital admission data related to respiratory, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease in Cyprus, (c) the detection of the potential synergies between thermal stress and air pollution variables on mortality and morbidity, (d) the development of a HHWWS which will include validated algorithms for the predictions of heat stress-related mortality and morbidity and a set of protocols for the operation of the system, and (e) the analysis of public health implications, including a health impact assessment, a survey of current policies and practices, as well as a set of generic and tailored mitigation measures in the form of intervention plans.

This innovative system is mainly oriented towards the protection of public health in urban areas in Cyprus, and is expected to contribute significantly to the improvement of quality of life of the population and the enhanced management of health services. Additionally, the proposed HHWWS and guidelines could be fully exploited on an operational basis by the local policy-makers for the development of warning systems and intervention policies, as well as for harmonisation with relevant EU guidelines and directives. Finally, the project will contribute to the technological development of Cyprus in the field of public health, and the dissemination of scientific knowledge to Cyprus through the development of a European network of experts.