Lancet Countdown benefits from new EU-funded project

The Lancet Countdown celebrates the launch of a new project that will develop indicators which capture the links between climate change and health. 

The Lancet Countdown monitors progress on health and climate, through indicators that serve as workable tools designed to capture the complex set of interdependent interactions through which climate change is affecting human health.  

Quantifying and illustrating these interactions presents challenges in terms of ensuring relevance and data availability. But IDAlert, a new project funded by the European Commission, will support the Lancet Countdown Europe by developing indicators to monitor the impact of climate change on zoonotic diseases in the EU, and ensuring long-term sustainability, policy impact and uptake.  

IDAlert is funded by the European Commission under the Horizon Europe programme, the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation. It supports creating and better dispersing excellent knowledge and technologies. 

“We’re delighted to be participating in this new project, and pleased that our science will benefit as a result,” says Dr Marina Romanello, Executive Director of the Lancet Countdown. “As our planet heats up, indicators which highlight the impact on health represent key evidence to enable decision-makers to act rapidly with robust responses.” 

“IDAlert will contribute valuable, scientifically robust and policy-relevant indicators to the Lancet Countdown in Europe and allow us to track the impact of climate change on zoonotic disease risk. These indicators will help key stakeholders design interventions to protect vulnerable communities from emerging disease threats across Europe” said ICREA Professor Rachel Lowe, BSC Global Health Resilience Team Leader and Director of the Lancet Countdown in Europe. 

About IDAlert 

IDAlert aims to tackle the emergence and transmission of zoonotic pathogens by developing novel indicators, innovative early warning systems and efficient tools for decision-makers, and by evaluating adaptation and mitigation strategies to build a Europe more resilient to emerging health threats. 

The consortium is coordinated by Prof. Joacim Röcklov, from Umeå University (Sweden), and involves 19 organisations from Sweden, Germany, France, Spain, Greece, The Netherlands, Italy, UK, and Bangladesh, with world leading experts in a wide range of disciplines including zoonoses, infectious disease epidemiology, social sciences, artificial intelligence, environmental economics, and environmental and climate sciences.