Approved for European funding, CLIMOS: Climate Monitoring and Decision Support Framework for Sand Fly-borne Diseases Detection and Mitigation with COST-benefit and Climate-policy Measures is the first Horizon Europe project led by the Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine at Nova University Lisbon (IHMT NOVA) and one of the first in Portugal.
With 29 partners from 16 countries (Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Serbia, Greece, Turkey and Israel), the purpose of CLIMOS is to contribute to the mitigation and control of zoonotic pathogens, knowing that some animals are more prone to harbour this type of vectors (rodents, bats or certain insects) – and that, in a climate change scenario, where extreme events are increasingly the new normal, the expansion of this type of infections has been very marked.
The aim is for the project to provide an early warning system, a mission that will include the development of an interactive, open-access online platform containing data on the geography of the species in question and the pathogens they transmit, combined with climate and environmental monitoring data.
In addition, it will be accompanied by an educational platform, making it possible to influence public policy in this area.