National experts on climate change give a seminar to ISPLN professionals about its influence on people's health

Experts of the Health Institute Carlos III, the main research public organism, Julio Díaz and Cristina Linares, give today Tuesday 4th June and tomorrow 5th June a scientific seminar to technicians of the Public Health and Labor Institute of Navarra to tackle climate change influence on people´s health.  

The seminar is framed within the climate change adaptation project, LIFE NAdapta(2017-2025), approved by the European commission in the framework of the LIFE Programme and developed by the Government of Navarra. This project, coordinated by the Department of Rural Development, Natural Environment and Local Administration,  is part of Navarra´s contribution to the international commitment against Climate Change (CC) in the field of adaptation and is part of the Climate Change Roadmap of the Foral Government.

It should be remarked that climate change mitigation and adaptation actions are one of the Government of Navarra´s priorities so as to contribute to greenhouse gas emissions reduction, cause of climate change, and to minimise its impact in different sectors, including human health, objective of Project LIFE NAdapta

Project LIFE NAdapta: reduce the effects on human health

Project LIFE NAdapta has several action areas, one of them being Health coordinated by the Institute of Public Health and Labor of Navarra (ISPLN). The objective is to know and reduce climate change effects on human health and define new adaptation measures. Within this area, several actions tackle different CC effects on health: high temperatures on the general population and working environment, air quality, emerging risks, pollination and invasive vectors.  

Within the action focused on the effects of high temperatures, the “Prevention Plan for the effect of temperatures excess”, coordinated by the Institute of Public Health and Labor of Navarra (ISPLN), is being improved with innovations. One of these innovations to be added is the division of Navarra in areas of similar climate in order to conduct surveillance and send out alerts according to area-specific thresholds. To determine these thresholds, today 4th June and tomorrow 5th, a workshop is taking part in the ISPLN with the presence of Julio Díaz and Cristina Linares, experts on climate change and health from the Carlos III Health Institute of Madrid. They will give a seminar, as well, targeted at professionals “Incidence of climate change on health: effects of atmospheric pollution and extreme temperatures’.

Julio Díaz y Cristina Linares

Julio Díaz Jiménez, PhD in Physics by the Complutense University of Madrid, in the Earth and Cosmos Physics specialization. Scientist in the Carlos III Health Institute, he is also Head of the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Area in the National School of Health. He has been devoted to research on environment and health over 25 years, especially on topics related to the health effects of chemical and acoustic pollution as well as extreme temperatures. He has done over 200 publications in these topics. Currently, he is a collaborator of the WHO in topics related to Climate Change and thermal extremes and their impacts on health, and coordinator of the Group “Extreme temperatures and health” of the Spanish Observatory on Health and Climate Change. He is Technical Director of the High Temperatures Plan of the Spanish Health Ministry. He is also an Expert Reviewer in the II Working Group of the V IPCC Evaluation Report in the field of “Climate Change Impacts on Human Health” and Lead Author of the Health Chapter of the MedECC Group First report.

Cristina Linares Gil, PhD in Preventive Medicine and Public Health by the Autonomous University of Madrid. Currently, she develops her professional career as Scientist in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics of the National Health School of the Carlos III Health Institute. She has worked mainly on the impact of thermal extremes on morbi-mortality, being a Member of the Experts Scientific Committee in Extreme Temperatures and Health, of the Ministry of Health Observatory on Health and Climate Change, Social Services and Equality. In her career, she also figures as Expert Reviewer within the II Working Group of the V IPCC Evaluation report in the field of “Climate Change Impacts on Human Health”, and currently she is Lead Author in this same Working group for the VI IPCC Report, in charge of the Chapter: Climate change impacts on health for Europe, as well as UN and WHO advisor on the same topic.