Relevance of the project for practice and policy

The project improves the assessment of climate-related health risks in Bavaria by developing specially adapted models for mosquito-borne diseases. Additionally, by developing preventive adaptation strategies, the harmful health effects in Bavaria and throughout Germany can be mitigated. Bavarian practices and policies are supported according to the Bavarian Climate Adaptation Strategy and the measures of the Bavarian Climate Protection Offensive.

The project results help inform the public about possible new health risks. Furthermore, additional communication measures and training content for professionals and the general public are being developed, focusing on mosquito-borne infectious diseases. Providing information about new mosquito-borne infectious diseases to affected Bavarian citizens, the public health service, and for the further development of medical training is a central part of BayByeMos.

The BayByeMos project pursues the following project objectives, with particular emphasis on practical relevance, evaluation and validation:

• Validation and supplementation of the existing epidemiological model for West Nile virus transmission through spatial expansion of the existing early warning system to outbreak areas in Germany
• Spatially and temporally differentiated assessment of the transmission risk for West Nile virus and Chikungunya virus in urban areas
• Spatially and temporally differentiated estimation of the possible abundance (number of individuals) of the Asian tiger mosquito in urban areas
• Integration of temperature data from climate change projections for the epidemiological and population biology models in the urban environment
• User-friendly optimization of the early warning system with the involvement of experts, various interest groups and the population
• Secondary use of the evaluation results by involving the public health service: development of a simplified scoring system to announce preventive rules of conduct in risk areas