LIFE MEDEA

LIFE MEDEA – Mitigating the Health Effects of Desert Dust Storms Using Exposure-Reduction Approaches

Good Practices Category

Good Practices Summary

Adoption of a strategic plan for mitigating the health effects of Desert Dust Storms (DDS) events in south-east Europe.

Mitigation

A dust storm is a phenomenon common to arid and semi-arid regions. Over the past 15 years, several studies have demonstrated that DDS in Mediterranean countries, originating mostly from the Sahara and Arabian Peninsula deserts, have been increasing in number and magnitude and linked it to desertification, climatic variability and global warming. EU legislation considers DDS impossible to prevent, implicitly harmless and discounts their contribution to daily and annual air quality standards of particulate matter up to 10 microns (PM10). However, there is increasing evidence from epidemiological studies which correlates exposure to PM10 during DDS with a significant increase in mortality and hospital admissions from cardiovascular and respiratory causes.

Replicability/Knowledge Transfer

DDS pose a major risk to populations residing in affected areas, such as in Mediterranean countries belonging to the global dust belt, extending from West Africa to the Arabian Peninsula. Actually, one of the project objectives is to transfer efficiently the results in Cyprus, Crete and Israel, and network with target bodies in other DDS-exposed regions in south east Europe.

Resources

The architecture under the Life-MEDEA Project, consists of three systems areas that will enable all-parties interoperation while each participating entity will be able to work or being informed with specific data models, policies and protocols for the processing, protection and control of personal and medical data of the patients: 1). The Central Platform. The core of the project is the MEDena® Platform, conceived as a unique set of modern systems and technologies in the cloud, providing high-availability, high processing power, as well as strong network and data security. 2). The Main Portal for Clinicians, Doctors and Patients. The Platform, will be utilized by Doctors, Clinicians, Air Quality and Meteo scientists over the ‘Main Web Portal’ interface and the Patients with the use of wearable devices and smartphone applications. 3). Wearable and Personal Devices. There are thousands of devices on the healthcare wearable market which could assist us collect medical data from our Patients. More info at: https://www.life-medea.eu/technology.html

Target Audience

Policy Implications

There is a pressing need for EU policies to reduce population exposures and increase individual, population and institutional resilience to the growing frequency and intensity of DDS.

Social Dimension

The MEDEA project aims to develop the tools for early population warning of upcoming desert dust storm events and a set of evidence-based and sustainable recommendations for adoption during DDS episodes in order to reduce indoor and outdoor exposure to harmful particulate air pollution. Thereafter, the effectiveness of these recommendations for reducing exposure to desert dust pollution and corresponding health effects will be assessed during a Behavioural Intervention Study in vulnerable patient groups of children with asthma and patients with Atrial Fibrillation.

Innovation Type

Awareness, Guidelines, Platform, Social, Technology

Innovation

Please see section “resources”.

Outcome/Barriers

Expected results:

• Adoption of a strategic national plan by the competent authorities (CyMET and DLI) in at least one of the participating countries for adaptation to increasing DDS events;
• A set of evidence-based recommendations for reducing outdoor DDS exposure by 30% and indoor DDS exposure by at least 50%;
• A sustainable bidirectional web-based platform that communicates DDS forecast information and exposure-reduction recommendations in a timely manner to susceptible citizens and the general population;
• A set of highly accurate air quality models that predict DDS events three days ahead in the Eastern Mediterranean basin;
• Data demonstrating the effectiveness of the developed recommendations to reduce outdoor and indoor exposure to DDS pollution, especially among vulnerable populations;
• Quantification of vulnerability of population/patient groups and evidence-based estimates demonstrating which intervention/recommendations work best in mitigating adverse health effects in children with asthma and adults in south east Europe;