Informal Settlements, economic and environmental change, and public health - Strategies to improve the quality of life in Dhaka

<p>INNOVATE is a multidisciplinary research project working on aspects of climate, economy and public health in the megacity of Dhaka. Within the frame of the sub-project the association between the atmospheric environment and human health is investigated.</p>

<p>Climate and air pollution (atmospheric environment) have major impacts on health and well being. The human body is affected by a complex system of different meteorological and air quality parameters, as well as non-meteorological factors, such as the individual susceptibility, socio-economic conditions, cultural practices or land use.</p>

<p>Although, the relationship between temperature and human health has been studied for several regions in the developed world, there is still little knowledge about the atmospheric influences on the burden of disease in developing countries. Due to the complex and dynamic nature of the climate-health relationship, knowledge derived from research conducted in industrialized countries of the mid-latitudes cannot be applied directly to tropical regions in the developing world. However, the speedup in the increase and scale of worldwide urbanization (urban turn), leading to the emergence of so-called megacities of which more than three-quarters are situated in the developing world, describes the importance of these urban areas.</p>

<p>Within the frame of our research we investigate the interdependencies between the atmospheric environment and human health in the Megacity of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Thereby, we analyze the climate-sensitivity of different diseases, examine risk factors, risk groups and appraise the impact of increasing ambient temperatures. The temporal trends of the meteorological measures defined within the epidemiological part of the research shall further be analysed in the frame of a time series analysis.</p>