BEST-COST Podcast
healthiar – a tool for calculating the health cost of pollution
How polluted is your neighbourhood? – what does air and noise pollution mean for people’s wellbeing
di BEST-COST
The BEST-COST R package, healthiar[AG1] , quantifies and monetises the burden of disease attributable to air pollution and noise. This episode explores how the R package uses calculation pathways for health data and exposure to pollutants, to understand the health and socioeconomic impacts of pollution and how this will feed into policy evaluation for more effective action against all types of pollution. EuroHealthNet sat with the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute to learn more about how the tool works, and how it can be used in research of environmental stressors beyond air and noise pollution. [AG1]Should it be italicised everywhere?
Air and noise pollution are two of the biggest environmental threats to our health, and often come from the same source. They can worsen the environmental burden of disease, and also place a large financial burden on people already vulnerable to socioeconomic inequalities. In this podcast episode, EuroHealthNet speaks with researchers at ErasmusMC and the University of Porto to understand how research methodologies for calculating the environmental burden of disease and health monetisation can help shape stronger air and noise pollution policies to better protect human health.
What are the current gaps in research that undermine our understanding of the health impacts of pollution? BEST-COST is developing new research methodologies to understand the socioeconomic impacts of air and noise pollution. Researchers from Sciensano and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health developed a European-level Multiple Deprivation Index to measure how socioeconomic inequalities contribute to the health burden of environmental stressors. By closing the gaps in understanding, we can help policymakers take targeted action to reduce pollution levels and inequalities across Europe.