141st APHA Annual Meeting

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283470
MED-MI: Linking weather, climate, and the environment with human health and wellbeing

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Lora Fleming, MD PhD , European Centre for Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter Medical School, Truro, United Kingdom
Brian Golding, PhD , UK Met Office, Exeter, United Kingdom
Anthony Kessel, MD PhD , Strategy and Climate Change, Health Protection Agency Public Health England, London, United Kingdom
Andy Haines, PhD , London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
Dan Bloomfield, PhD , RKT and Met Office, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
Nick Osborne, PhD , European Centre for Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter Medical School, Truro, United Kingdom
Anna Cichowska, MD , Strategy and Climate Change, Health Protection Agency Public Health England, London, United Kingdom
Clive Sabel, PhD , College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
Christophe Sarran, PhD , Human Health, UK Met Office, Exeter, United Kingdom
Shakoor Hajat, PhD , Department of Social & Environmental Health Research, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
Trevor Bailey, PhD , College of Engineering Maths Physics, Exeter, United Kingdom
Michael Depledge, PhD , European Centre for Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter Medical School, Truro, United Kingdom
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.

Learning Areas:
Epidemiology
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
Describe the international climate, weather, environment,health, and wellbeing databases available for linkage Discuss the research, surveillance and/prevention/mitigation applications for these linkages to identify subpopulations and locations which are vulnerable to environmental change due to climate, environmental, geographic, and/or socio-economic factors

Keywords: Climate Change, Environmental Health Hazards

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the principle investigator on this project
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.