Summary

Desert Dust Storm (DDS) events in Mediterranean countries, originating mostly from the Sahara and Arabian deserts, have been associated with a significant increase in mortality, hospital admissions, and symptom exacerbations. The LIFE+ MEDEA project is the first comprehensive approach to provide field-based evidence for the feasibility and effectiveness of an adaptation strategy to DDS events in South-Eastern Europe and inform national and European Union policymakers. The project focused on the design of sustainable and easy-to-implement exposure reduction recommendations, the development of an early warning system for DDS events, and the assessment of the effectiveness of the developed recommendations in two clinical intervention studies involving children with asthma and adults with atrial fibrillation. The seminar will summarize the study design and main methods employed during the clinical intervention studies, describe the bi-directional internet platform and early warning dissemination system developed as part of the project and summarize the key findings both in terms of exposure reduction to desert dust and mitigation of disease-related health outcomes.

Exceptionally, this will be a hybrid event. The Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) will host this invited talk in its facilities. Because of the limited number of places in the conference room, registration is mandatory. If you plan to attend in person, send your contact details to dust@aemet.es.