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Faculty of Medicine
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health
The EUROHEIS project was funded by the European Commission, Directorate-General Health and Consumer Protection, Luxembourg under the programme Action on pollution-related diseases. It was constructed as a three-year programme, made up of a feasibility study in year one (2000), an implementation phase in year two (2001-02), and an evaluation phase in year three (2002-03).
The project aimed to improve health information and analysis in order to assess relationships between environmental pollution and disease, and to respond rapidly to health threats, improving knowledge and understanding of health risk management. During the first two years of the project, a Rapid Inquiry Facility (RIF) was developed and implemented to explore the links between exposure to environmental pollutants and possible health risks. The development and implementation of the RIF has involved reporting on geographically referenced datasets currently available to each of the participating partners, their accessibility, their cost and what is known of their completeness and quality, including sources of health, population, environmental and socio-economic data. The implementation phase has been fully completed by the UK and Spanish partners, is near completion in Sweden, and is still ongoing in other partner institutions (Finland, the Netherlands).
The objective for the third year of the project was to demonstrate the usefulness of the RIF in answering questions concerning environmental health risks, utilising the system within the context of improving public health, preventing human illness and diseases, and obviating sources of danger to health. This was demonstrated through a series of case studies carried out within each of the partner countries. The impact of socio-economic factors were incorporated in the analyses, and the use of the systems for environmental health impact assessment assessed.
For further information, contact:
Email: a.kozniewska@imperial.ac.uk
Tel: +44 [0]20 7594 3278
Fax: +44 [0]20 7594 3196
Site manager: Ania Kozniewska
Tel: + 44 0 207 594 3278
Fax: + 44 0 207 594 3196
Email: a.kozniewska@imperial.ac.uk