In October 2022, the European Commission DG SANTE re-structured its work around the One Health approach that tightly connects human health with the health of animals and the environment. This pioneering approach, focused on prevention and monitoring, requires a strong sense of policy coherence to be applied successfully. It is the case of bioaerosols (such as pollen, fungal spores, bacteria, and viruses) which are fundamental to life on Earth and are integral to One Health driven interventions. Bioaerosols have a huge impact on human health, being linked to major chronic diseases such as allergy and asthma, and cost €50-150 billion annually. Over 100 million Europeans live with allergic rhinitis and/or asthma, making it the most common non-communicable disease for children and the second most common for adults, after heart disease.  

Thanks to research and technology, Europe can count on solutions available to contribute to effective One Health policies and climate change mitigation strategies. In the past five years, the monitoring and modelling of bioaerosols has made it possible, for the first time, to provide high temporal resolution information in real time. Such advances link directly to the One Health approach and respond to the needs of end users from a range of domains: from patients with seasonal allergy and asthma, to stakeholders focused on animal health, agriculture, the environment, and research.  

This event will serve to present the technological advances around bioaerosols and to lay the foundations for an EU One Health-in-all-policies, with a discussion on how to translate high-level scientific results into benefits for health and society. A joint statement has been developed by scientific research and patients’ organisations laying out a set of recommendations for the European Union. 

Check the event agenda here