Strengthening Health Research for Climate Change in Africa (original) (raw)
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Climate change, health, and sustainable development in Africa
This paper critically examines the effects of climate change on the African continent and suggests ways in which the negative effects of climate change can be effectively combatted to ensure sustainable development. Although responsible for a small share of global climate change, Africa is the most vulnerable region of the world to climate change, which destroys the people's source of food, medication, shelter, and income, leading to poor nutrition and exposure to infectious diseases, more hospitalizations, less working hours, and heavy financial losses. Apart from global environmental deterioration, Africa is one of the regions of the world experiencing the severest droughts and water scarcity. The impact of all this on Africa's already fragile socio-economic and political structures is grave. Climate change threatens the political stability of the continent. In this paper we argue that the effects of climate change on the continent have been amplified by human choices and political ineptitude of the ruling elites in Africa. We maintain that good governance, the promotion of African traditional values that encourage the protection of the environment, paying attention to rural development and the emancipation of women economically and politically, and investing in alternative and renewable energy are the necessary pre-conditions for effectively mitigating the effects of climate change and ensuring sustainable development in Africa.
Climate and health in Africa: research and policy needs
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Climate variability and change can have both direct and indirect influences on human health. In Africa, risks of malnutrition, malaria and diarrhoeal disease are likely to increase as temperatures increase and rainfall becomes more variable (USAID, 2017). Other climate risks include the direct impacts of extreme weather events, UV-related cancers and diseases, heat stress, respiratory disorders related to air quality and access to clean water, with increased transmission of water, vector and food-borne diseases all expected to increase in the future (ACPC, 2011; African Development Bank 2012). This Briefing Note highlights the key health areas on which climate has an impact in Africa, in order to help shape the research and policy agenda.
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This paper describes the work of the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) and its partners towards the development of climate services for the health sector in Africa; integrating research, operational applications and capacity building alongside policy development and advocacy. It follows the evolution of IRI's health work from an initial focus on the use of seasonal climate forecasts to a wider agenda serving climate and environmental information needs to a broad range of health-related users. Recognizing that climate information must be relevant to the priority policy and programming needs of national and international health stakeholders, this review highlights an approach that has centered not only on the assessment and creation of evidence, but also on knowledge transfer through engagement with decision-makers. Current opportunities and priorities identified for the routine use of climate and environmental information in health in Africa include: i) understanding mechanisms by which climate impacts on transmission and occurrence of disease; ii) mapping populations at risk both in space and by season; iii) developing early warning systems; iv) understanding the contributions of climate to trends in disease incidence v) improving the evaluation of the impacts of climate-sensitive interventions. While traditional metrics (e.g. peer review publications) have been important in establishing evidence for policy, the IRI's role as a knowledge broker (in research and professional capacity building, facilitation of communities of practice, and engagement in policy dialogue at local and global scale) has been critical to delivery of its mission.
Reflections on Climate Change and Public Health in Africa in an Era of Global Pandemic
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The study examined the impact of climate change on public health provisioning in Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to recognising the multifarious influence of climate change on health, it argues that the quest for global health security can only be achieved against the backdrop of concerted mainstreaming of climate change response into public heath provisioning, especially in the developing world. Adapting to climate change and mitigating its impact would logically require integrating it into public health planning, programming and interventions. Therefore, if health security entails provisioning and catering to the full range of health needs of people, climate change given its undoubted implications for health should be in the forefront of health security globally. Despite the global discourse of climate change and health security, tangible actions and programmes at different levels are needed to achieve the goals of good health and effective health security. This is no less the cas...
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Climate Change and Health Preparedness in Africa: Analysing Trends in Six African Countries
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2021
Climate change is a global problem, which affects the various geographical regions at different levels. It is also associated with a wide range of human health problems, which pose a burden to health systems, especially in regions such as Africa. Indeed, across the African continent public health systems are under severe pressure, partly due to their fragile socioeconomic conditions. This paper reports on a cross-sectional study in six African countries (Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Namibia, Ethiopia, and Kenya) aimed at assessing their vulnerabilities to climate change, focusing on its impacts on human health. The study evaluated the levels of information, knowledge, and perceptions of public health professionals. It also examined the health systems’ preparedness to cope with these health hazards, the available resources, and those needed to build resilience to the country’s vulnerable population, as perceived by health professionals. The results revealed that 63.1% of the total r...
2011
WHO-TDR WHO Tropical Diseases Research WMO World Meteorological Organization initiative was co-sponsored by the African Center of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA. Since the Bamako workshop, awareness around the risks of climate has risen considerably and significant lessons have been learned through multiple initiatives and partnerships. The "Climate and Health in Africa: 10 Years On" workshop was planned as a forum to present, debate and evaluate lessons learned and to elaborate on newly emerging perspectives and opportunities for managing climate and health risks in Africa. Over 100 stakeholders, representing critical thinkers from multiple disciplines, participated in the 3-day meeting. Participants examined examples of best practice in climate change adaptation in health and deliberated on how to bring key African partners in adaptation together to focus on common demand-driven objectives around an African led agenda. Key outcomes of the workshop include a consensus agreement on priorities for policies, practice, services and data and research and education for the integration of Climate Risk Management into Africa's health sector. With this as a first step, it was underscored that Africa will be taking the lead in Climate and Health in the future.
Introduction: Climate is changing and this is a fact. The impact on health is serious. There are many devastating outcomes from such changes. Injuries, displacements, Food security, changes in diseases pattern and return of diseases were eliminated. In already vulnerable communities and countries climate change effect is an added burden which accelerate the gloomy end to these communities. Objective: Is to attract attention of the stakeholders in both sides of the economic world rich and poor countries to seriously considering the impact of climate change and work together for solutions. Discussion: The responsibility of the causes led and leading to climate change is lying on the shoulders of the richer countries being an industrialized countries, however the price is paid by the developing or the poorer countries. The reason mainly could be attributed to their limited coping mechanisms. The events explained by climate change lead these countries to remain in the vicious cycle of poverty. Conclusion: a global action and intervention that consider both sides of the world is crucial. Inclusion of the developing countries in the proposed solutions could contribute in enhancements of such proposals. Further researches are required to address link of the climatic changes and wars specially in the flaming world we live in today.
Scholink Sustainability in Environment, 2021
Climate change is a "threat multiplier and a prime cause of universal threat to health in the 21st century, including 4 th industrial revolution. The health effects of climate change will increase dramatically over the next few years and pose a risk to human life and the well-being of billions of people. As we all know, the milieu is fundamental to our sustained earth survival and environmental changes (natural and artificial) affect it either to the benefit or detriment of humans. Climate change is one of such changes in the physical environment which has grave consequences for the existence of mankind. Climate change is interestingly, no longer a speculative subject. There is a good international scientific consensus existing to show that this phenomenon is real and if recent global warming movements continue, temperature rise, ocean levels and more frequently weather conditions that is extreme (storms, heatwaves , droughts, floods, cyclones, etc.) may perhaps cause severe food shortages, loss of shelter, water, livelihoods, extinction of flora and fauna species. In the recent past, the earth has witnessed devastating weather-related events in different portions of the globe including hurricanes (e.g., Katrina and Rita in USA), tsunamis, typhoons, flooding especially in the Asian Continent, wild fires especially in Australia, USA, etc. Currently, the ongoing flood incident in Pakistan that has so far claimed about 1,600 lives and rendered another four million people homeless is a sad reminder of the ugly and devastating consequences of global warming on the environment. There is no gainsaying the 62 Published by SCHOLINK INC. fact that humankind is paying dearly for the massive alterations in the environment that have induced changes in climate. This is because of frequent incidence of changes in climate related disasters in the world today. There is hardly any month that passes without an incident occurring in one part of the globe or another since the advent of the 21 st century. Changes in climate has significant and potentially devastating health consequences, whether through direct actions (e.g., deaths resulting from heat wave and weather disasters) or disruption of complex biological methods (e.g., changes in infectious diseases patterns, supplies in fresh water and production of food).The report of the fourth assessment of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have globally submitted that "it is estimated that the health of millions of people is affected, for instance, malnutrition increases; deaths increase, diseases and injury; burden of increase diarrheal diseases; frequency of increased cardio-respiratory diseases caused by high levels of ground-level ozone in cities due to climate change; besides altered spatial distribution of some communicable diseases". The association amongst changes in climate, its drivers, systemic effects, health and socioeconomic growth, mitigation and adaptation has been specified.
A Rapid Review of Impact Assessment of Climate Change on Health and Mental Well-Being in Africa
New voices in psychology, 2023
Despite widespread global attention, the potential threats to human health posed by climate change in Africa still need to be further understood. Although there is mounting concern that climate change is a serious risk to human health, less evidence shows a direct causal relationship between climate change and health risks in Africa. In this rapid review, we discuss our synthesis of available evidence on the health implications of climate change with a focus on Africa. PubMed was systematically searched for relevant articles from 2020 to 2023 using a search strategy. Only eligible articles published in the English language Oladjimeji et al. 2 with full article access were included for review using the population concept context (PCC) criteria by Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI). After removing duplicates, the selection process began with title and abstract screening, followed by screening full-text articles. Of the 3272 articles retrieved, only 10 were eligible for synthesis. We found mainly reported climate exposures to range from drought, concerning rainfall patterns, and increasing temperatures reported to cause morbidity and mortality through health risks: respiratory diseases, vector-borne diseases, cardiovascular diseases and mental health concerns. Africa still has a huge shortage of available evidence, particularly research focusing on the health implications, including mental health of climate change and interventions to prevent climate change-related health consequences. While the limited global evidence indicates that climate change results in an increased risk to public health, there are gaps in demonstrating the causal links between climate change and societal mental health impacts in Africa. There is also an urgent need for more research on effectively addressing climate hazards that threaten the African continent's public health and wellbeing.