Project Green Light - Chair Care and the natural living environment

The project Green Light aims to bridge knowledge about nature & health linkages to health care practice. We would like to collaborate on this challenge with you and your organisation.

We want to take into account health benefits from nature based solutions, such as stress reduction, improvement of the immune system of children or reducing the impact from environmental pollution or climate change. We also want to take into account health risks, such as pollen allergy or infectious diseases transmitted by ticks of mosquitos. Regarding both foci knowledge is increasing, such as in ‘Connecting Global Priorities: Biodiversity and Human Health, a State of Knowledge Review’ (2015) from the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the World Health Organization (WHO). One of the most important challenges is relating knowledge development to practical application. In health care practice, this still is in its infancy.

The project Green Light is part of a collaboration between the Department Environment and Nature Policy of the Provincie Antwerpen and the Department Primary and Interdisciplinary Care of the Universiteit Antwerpen. Several initiatives are deployed, aimed to facilitate better connection of knowledge about nature & health linkages to health care practice. Green Light seeks collaboration around the following issues.

• First, we want to make an inventory of opportunities and challenges, wishes and concerns regarding integration of knowledge about nature & health linkages in health care practice. We perform interviews with key players in the health care sector, nature sector and other relevant societal sectors.
• Second, we want to disclose available data sets in search for answers to key questions around nature – health linkages. You may have specific knowledge questions in relation, to this and perhaps you have specific data sets available which may help answering those questions.
• Thirdly, we work on better transfer of knowledge about nature & health linkages to health care practice and we appreciate feedback o how best to do this.
• Finally, we want to initiate collaborate on application of knowledge about nature & health linkages in health care practice and monitor this scientifically. We search for practice cases: perhaps your organization is interested?