Identifying determinants for indoor air quality and their health impact in environments for children: measures to improve indoor quality and reduce disease burdens

InChildHealth will integrate health, environmental, technical and social sciences research to identify determinants for Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) and evaluate their impact in environments occupied by school children. We will focus on chemicals, particle concentrations, microorganisms and physical parameters in schools, homes, sports halls and transport.

The IAQ of these environments determines the dose received by the children and may directly influence their health and well-being. An environmental epidemiological study and controlled interventions conducted in schools in three European cities will assess the health effects of multipollutant airborne exposures on respiratory infections, allergies, and neurological and cognitional symptoms. In addition, dose-response will be evaluated with a novel cytotoxicity testing pipeline using invitro approaches.

The InChildHealth consortium will cover an impressive variety of geographical and cultural diversity, with targeted exposure measurement campaigns and citizen involvement in seven European countries from Northern, Central and Southern Europe and interventions in Australia. All project’s results will converge in the InChildHealth Integrated Risk Assessment Tool, which will provide information on the interactions between the sources, emissions, concentrations, exposure, doses and disease for children. Besides, we will develop user-friendly and low-cost monitoring technologies and strategies (technical and behavioural) to improve IAQ and reduce disease burdens.

InChildHealth will produce many FAIR datasets on air pollutants and their main sources for indoor environments occupied by children in different climatic and social settings in Europe. Our findings will be disseminated as guidelines, recommendations and training material partly developed with children in a citizen science approach. Such material will support the IAQ regulatory framework in schools, facilitate IAQ management, and broadly promote healthier indoors.

Team:

• Magª. Teresa Schäfer / Schaefer, (formerly known as Holocher-Ertl) (project leader)
• Dr. Claudia Magdalena Fabian
• Dr. Barbara Kieslinger
• Mag. Dr. Klaus Schuch
• Eveline Zapfel

Section: Technology and Knowledge

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