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Project
Policy Research Centre (PRC) Environment and Health (3rd Generation 2012-2015) (VLW128)
The 2012-2015 program builds further on the strengths and knowledge gained in the 2001-2006 and 2007-2011 programs.
A healthy environment and life style are acting levels to achieve more healthy life years. Flanders aims towards a sustainable society which is particularly challenging since the region is characterized by an intensive traffic network, high population density, urbanization, important industries and intensive agriculture. A scientific understanding of the importance of environmental risk factors in the broader context and in relation to other health determinants such as age, gender, life style and social determinants may underpin and give guidance to opportunities for prevention-oriented improvement in policy and practice. As such the Flemish centre of Expertise in Environment and Health will expand its knowledge in support of the challenges to come.
For the new program a similar strategy as in the 2007-2011 program is proposed: the combination of a reference biomonitoring in Flanders (Mother-newborn pairs, adolescents, elderly people) and a hot spot biomonitoring (adolescents). The main focus of the Flemish biomonitoring program remains to use and translate the scientific results into policy actions. Interaction with stakeholders is embedded in the program emphasizing transparency of the choices that are made and direct communication. The purpose of the reference biomonitoring is to obtain data which allow to analyze time trends and to serve as a basis for comparison data from biomonitoring in hot spots.Follow up of the same people (children, adolescents, adults and elderly) over time is one of the most powerful tools to get more insight in the causal relationship between environmental factors and potential health effects.
The follow-up approach will include: 1) children who participated as newborns in the biomonitoring projects 2001-2006 and 2007-2011, 2) follow up study with elderly people who are registered in the INTEGO database.
A healthy environment and life style are acting levels to achieve more healthy life years. Flanders aims towards a sustainable society which is particularly challenging since the region is characterized by an intensive traffic network, high population density, urbanization, important industries and intensive agriculture. A scientific understanding of the importance of environmental risk factors in the broader context and in relation to other health determinants such as age, gender, life style and social determinants may underpin and give guidance to opportunities for prevention-oriented improvement in policy and practice. As such the Flemish centre of Expertise in Environment and Health will expand its knowledge in support of the challenges to come.
For the new program a similar strategy as in the 2007-2011 program is proposed: the combination of a reference biomonitoring in Flanders (Mother-newborn pairs, adolescents, elderly people) and a hot spot biomonitoring (adolescents). The main focus of the Flemish biomonitoring program remains to use and translate the scientific results into policy actions. Interaction with stakeholders is embedded in the program emphasizing transparency of the choices that are made and direct communication. The purpose of the reference biomonitoring is to obtain data which allow to analyze time trends and to serve as a basis for comparison data from biomonitoring in hot spots.Follow up of the same people (children, adolescents, adults and elderly) over time is one of the most powerful tools to get more insight in the causal relationship between environmental factors and potential health effects.
The follow-up approach will include: 1) children who participated as newborns in the biomonitoring projects 2001-2006 and 2007-2011, 2) follow up study with elderly people who are registered in the INTEGO database.
Date:1 Jan 2012 → 31 Dec 2015
Keywords:Chemistry, human biomonitoring, health effects, biomarkers
Disciplines:(Bio)chemical engineering, Health sciences, Biological sciences, Chemical sciences