K-HEALTHinAIR participated in the 17th European Public Health Conference 2024, titled "Sailing the Waves of European Public Health: Exploring a Sea of Innovation" in Lisbon from 12–15 November.
The European Public Health Conference is an annual scientific event dedicated to public health issues in Europe. Each year, the conference is hosted in a different country at the initiative of EUPHA (European Public Health Association), in close collaboration with one or more local partners. The conference actively seeks broader partnerships with other European NGOs and institutions.
The K-HealthinAir consortium organised a workshop with presentations in Pecha Kucha style. After a short introduction to the K-HealthInAir project and the set-up of the workshop by Amy van Grieken, Vânia Teófilo informed the audience about the results of the Systematic Review on the main pollutants affecting Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) in Europe, their sources and, the main factors contributing for their concentrations indoor. The review is currently submitted for publication.
Next, Artur Badyda and Adam Muszynski shared the approach taken in Poland to examine IAQ in schools. They performed an interview in which they explained the measurements taken and seasonal variation in concentrations of fungi, bacteria and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in indoor air in classrooms.
After that, Amy van Grieken provided an overview of the Erasmus MC Rotterdam pilot, in which we study IAQ among older people with respiratory conditions to improve care. A short overview of the data collection methods was provided and a preliminary association study between IAQ and health. Also, plans for the future were discussed.
Fourthly, Belén Costa Ruiz gave some first insights on the K-HEALTHinAIR Open Access Platform that will be developed to share all the knowledge we gather in the project. She showed some screenshots of the platform and discussed its potential users.
Finally, the workshop ended with a call for action on research into indoor air quality and health. Some relevant questions were posed by the audience afterwards. Amongst others about the relevance of including qualitative research to better understand people’s behavior with regard to ventilation. Also, there were questions about the sampling methods used.
The full abstract can be found here: 5.X.2. Improving indoor air quality: a public health challenge - PMC
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or of the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HADEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
