ABSTRACT
The scientific and policy community were slow to recognise the potential importance and scope of human health impacts of global atmospheric changes, and only a small amount of scientific literature on the subject has been generated to date. Given the many uncertainties in the health impact assessment and the complexity of the processes involved, many assessments have been qualitative, or semi-quantitative. Although epidemiology is the basic quantitative science of public health, only for a minority of the expected impacts of climate change and ozone depletion, such as mortality due to thermal stress, is an extension of the standard epidemiological risk assessment possible. For other impacts, (new) modelling techniques are required. However, the construction of integrated models for the health impact assessment of global atmospheric changes is still at a relatively early stage of development. Therefore, the 'first generation' models presented in this study are meant to increase our insights into the underlying pfocesses of climate change, ozone depletion and human health, and intended to stimulate and contribute to the ongoing discussion of the development of methods in the analysis of the interactions between atmospheric changes, ecosystems and human health.
