16 partners from 8 European countries, led by CARTIF Technology Centre, have joined forces to collaborate and achieve the objectives of the K-HEALTHinAIR project.  This consortium will provide a scientific-based assessment of the indoor air quality (IAQ) effects in health, based on the results of the clinical studies with 350 high-risk outpatients and an extensive monitoring of chemical and biological indoor air pollutants.

The effects of IAQ in human health are currently analysed shallowly in most of the environments and settings (maybe except work places where the legislation is more developed and stricter). Additionally, vulnerable groups are not protected enough under the prevention criteria. K-HEALTHinAIR aims to deploy a set of activities to create relevant new knowledge that covers this necessity. For this purpose, several very representative indoor locations have been selected. To identify the determinants, a deep research on sources, interactions and main correlations with health problems will be conducted. As a result, the project will deliver affordable measures to monitor and improve IAQ and guidelines to support real interventions.

Recently funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe Programme, K-HEALTHinAIR proposes a multidisciplinary data collection (public health, IAQ and high-risk outpatients follow up) including a three-year integrated monitoring campaign in 9 scenarios (hospital, metro station, market, retirement home, canteens, student residence, lecture hall, homes, schools) across 5 study pilots in Europe.

The Europe-wide consortium includes 5 research & technology organisations (CARTIF acting also as coordinator, CSIC, CIEMAT, IDIBAPS & NOFER Institute), 2 hospitals (Clinic Hospital of Barcelona and Erasmus MC), 4 universities (Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Warsaw University of Technology, Medizinische Universität Wien & University of Agder), 2 industries (MANN+HUMMEL & Atos IT Solutions and Services), 2 SMEs (INBIOT & KVELOCE) and a digital health connector (ECHAlliance).

Officially started on September 1st 2022, the project kicked off its activities on September 27th. Jose Fermoso Domínguez, Researcher at CARTIF and Project Coordinator of K-HEALTHinAIR  expressed his excitement about the project:

“I think K-HEALTHinAIR will increase our knowledge about the air quality parameters that affect people's health and help us to understand the issue better. Currently, we are lacking the knowledge about what those parameters are, if they exist, and how they influence us. As Goethe said, <<We only see what we know>>, and the project will help us to gather this knowledge and ultimately see more than today.”

The project will last 4 years, until 31 August 2026.