The July 2025 edition of the UBDPolicy newsletter is available to read.
From online webinars to workshops, and in-person presentations and posters, the BEST-COST partners have enjoyed the discussions on improving research methodologies to better understand how air and noise pollution impacts our health.
The European Commission’s Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS) published an article highlighting findings from the EU-funded UBDPolicy project. The study, published in The Lancet Planetary Health, identified four urban typologies across Europe – compact high-density cities, open low-rise medium-density cities, open low-rise low-density cities and green low-density cities – and assessed their environmental and health impacts. The team found that high-density compact cities have lower carbon emissions per capita, but suffer from poor air quality, higher mortality rates and limited green space, posing significant challenges for sustainable urban living.
Read the full article here.
As part of the UBDPolicy project, the University of Cambridge team is organising a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) methods course for invited participants in Cambridge from 19-23 May. The course will take place at the University’s West Cambridge Hub in West Cambridge, and will include:
Day 1: Burden of disease, Comparative Risk Assessment (CRA), and Epidemiology
Days 2–5: Integrated Transport and Health Impact Model (ITHIM)
- Day 2: Scenario development
- Day 3: Metrics and Disbayes (r package for estimation of incidence and case fatality for chronic disease, given partial information, using a multi-state model)
- Day 4: Life Tables and Multi-State Life Tables (MSLT)
- Day 5: Addressing uncertainty
A new study on the health impact of greenness and mortality from the MISTRAL project has been published in Nature Communications, revealing how access to green spaces can prevent deaths in Italy.
The results underscore the critical need for strong action to increase the amount and accessibility of green spaces in all human settlements. More green means fewer deaths, making it imperative for policymakers to prioritize greening initiatives as a strategic component of public health and urban planning.
In this health impact assessment, the authors utilised satellite data to estimate the number of preventable deaths across Italy’s 49 million adult population by increasing residential greenness. The exposure was measured using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) at a 10-meter resolution within a 300-meter radius from homes in 7,904 municipalities.
The study’s findings are remarkable. By achieving the level of residential greenness currently experienced by the top 25% of the population nationwide, the researchers estimate that a total of 28,433 (95% confidence interval: 21,400–42,350) deaths and 279,324 (210,247–415,980) years of life lost could have been prevented in Italy in 2022. This represents 5% of the total mortality burden in the considered municipalities.
This research highlights the significant benefits of green spaces on human health, a topic that has long been challenging for epidemiologists to quantify.
Read the study here.
Health impact assessment (HIA) of the environment involves comparing the health impact of different scenarios using a systematic approach. Impacts can be calculated at the full population level, but often the distribution of impacts across the population is important as well. Specifically, the distribution of health impacts across different socioeconomic or ethnic groups is of interest. Differences in health impacts across socio-economic, ethnic, or gender groups can be caused by all elements in the HIA process, including the level of exposure to environmental stressors, the impact of an intervention to reduce environmental exposure, exposure-response functions (ERFs), or background rates of disease or mortality. Little is known about which factors contribute more to differential impacts across socio-economic groups. For virtually all diseases, background rates of disease and mortality are higher in deprived populations. For the other paths, evidence is less consistent.
The UBDPOLICY project addresses health impacts related to outdoor air pollution, noise, green, and heat in urban areas. Organised by Utrecht University (UU), this workshop will discuss the evidence for quantifying different pathways of inequitable impacts across populations, including methodological issues. It will also assess approaches for integrating equity into health impact assessment of environmental stressors.
The aim of the workshop is to discuss:
- Evidence for the quantification of different pathways for unequal impacts across population groups, including methodological issues.
- Approaches for including equity in health impact assessment of environmental stressors.
To attend the event, please register here.
As UBDPolicy moves into the second half of the project, it will begin to transform its research into analysis and reporting. With data collection expected to conclude early next year, results will start flowing in 2025. These findings will be crucial for stakeholder discussions and actionable insights.
Read more in the latest edition of the UBDPolicy newsletter.
Over the past year, the VALESOR project has reached several key milestones, with the first scientific results from the project published. In this edition of their newsletter, you can read about the project’s first year of research into the economic valuation of environmental stressors, and what the project has planned for 2025.
Don’t miss out on subscribing to future newsletters, you can do so via this link: Follow the project | Valesor
Air pollution and environmental noise have a huge impact on our respiratory and cardiovascular health. This webinar hosted by the European Burden of Disease Network will present the latest advancements in exposure-response functions (ERFs), focusing on NO₂ and COPD, O₃ and asthma, PM2.5 and lung cancer, and traffic noise and cardiovascular disease. Speakers from the BEST-COST consortium will present their insights from systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and interactive discussions, offering valuable updates on environmental health research.
Join us to explore these critical findings and their implications for public health in this webinar on Wednesday 19 February 2025, 10h-11h30 CET.
Programme
| 10h00 | Welcome and Introduction — Vanessa Gorasso, Sciensano, Belgium |
| 10h05 | Introduction BEST-COST and ERFs — Juanita Haagsma, Erasmus MC, The Netherlands |
| 10h10 | NO₂ and COPD — Tessa Haverkate, Erasmus MC, The Netherlands |
| 10h20 | O₃ and asthma — Hamid Y. Hassen, Antwerp University, Belgium |
| 10h30 | General discussion and Q&A |
| 10h45 | PM2.5 and lung cancer — Mariana Corda, Egas Moniz School of Health and Science, Portugal |
| 10h55 | Traffic noise and cardiovascular disease — Periklis Charalampous, UCLouvain, Belgium, and Erasmus MC, The Netherlands |
| 11h05 | General discussion and Q&A |
| 11h20 | Closing remarks — Juanita Haagsma, Erasmus MC, The Netherlands |
The fourth BEST-COST newsletter is out now! Read updates from the project including updates from the most recent BEST-COST General Assembly and presence at international conferences.
