MED-MI: Linking weather, climate, and the environment with human health and wellbeing

A large part of the global disease burden can be linked to environmental factors, underpinned by unhealthy behaviours. However, the research into these linkages suffers from the lack of common tools and databases for carrying out investigations across many different scientific disciplines to explore these complex associations. The MED-MI Partnership brings together leading organisations and researchers in climate, weather, environment, and human health and wellbeing.

The main aim is to create a central data and analysis source as an internet-based Platform which will be a vital new common resource for medical and public health research in the UK and beyond. Human health, the environment, and climate are intricately interconnected. We need to link and analyse complex meteorological, environmental, and epidemiological data. This is a vital step to translate this data and analysis resource into epidemiologic, clinical, and commercial collaborative applications, and thus, improved human health and wellbeing in a rapidly changing environment. Translational applications will: •facilitate novel research into environmental exposures and health using integrated models; •rapidly identify “hot spots” (locations and points in time with convergent increased environmental and human health risks) for targeted prevention, interventions, and research; •provide healthcare practitioners, public health planners, and environmental managers with relevant information for improving services for locations and populations identified at risk; •initiate and evaluate interventions to reduce the exposures, and thereby the health effects at both the individual and population levels; •disseminate and provide access to data as part of outreach and engagement with the research community, policymakers and civil society.

Existing databases, currently stored in various locations and organizations, will be combined. This will enable climate, weather and environment data to be linked and analysed with human health and wellbeing data. With appropriate confidentiality and ethical safeguards, the Platform will be available to UK and other researchers.