Special Session on Environmental Research and Policy at the WHO Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health

Find out how EU-funded research initiatives are helping to answer urgent policy questions about how to address the impact of environmental pollution on people's health. Head of the Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Alba Hernández, coordinator of the UAB-led European project PlasticHeal, will present the work of the European Research Cluster to understand the health impacts of micro- and nanoplastics (CUSP) in the session on the contribution of pan-European research collaboration to evidence-based zero pollution and health policy.

This meeting is one of the special side events at the 7th World Health Organisation Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health in Budapest. The session, organised by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD) in collaboration with DG Environment, the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL), will focus on the role of EU-funded research in understanding the impact of different sources of environmental pollution on human health.

Environmental pollution is an increasing threat for human health, with recent assessments attributing 9 million annual deaths worldwide and over 10% of annual premature deaths in the EU alone to pollution. 

The Ministerial Conference is aimed at defining “the future environment and health priorities and commitments for the WHO European Region, with a focus on addressing the health dimensions of the triple environmental crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental pollution,” as described by WHO on their website. 

The parallel session will highlight the extensive framework of initiatives under the EU’s Green Deal aimed at protecting public health from the impacts of environmental degradation. In this session, DG RTD, DG Environment, and EEA will present the available EU support for research and innovation for evidence-based policies in environment and health, the recent developments in major policy initiatives such as the EU Zero Pollution Action Plan and legislative package, and the key findings of the EEA 2022 Zero Pollution Monitoring Assessment. 

More than 20 ongoing research projects – supported with an EU contribution of over €150 million and involving more than 300 research groups – are tackling the impacts of urban indoor and outdoor pollution, air quality, chemical exposures and micro and nanoplastics on human health. Alba Hernández, PlasticHeal project coordinator, will participate on behalf of CUSP, sharing the floor with representatives from the European Urban Health Cluster, Green Deal Health Cluster and Indoor Air Quality Cluster in a panel moderated by HEAL to showcase the outcomes of these four large-scale collaborative initiatives and their potential to inform policy implementation measures.

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