Tools and Methods to Include Health in Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies and Policies: A Scoping Review.

Ianis Delpla,Michael Keeling,Thierno Amadou Diallo,Olivier Bellefleur

doi:10.3390/ijerph18052547

Ianis Delpla, Michael Keeling + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18052547

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Abstract

Climate change represents a serious threat to the health and well-being of populations. Today, many countries, regions, and cities around the world are implementing policies and strategies to adapt to climate change and mitigate its effects. A scoping review was performed to identify tools and methods that help integrate health into climate change adaptation and mitigation policies and strategies. The literature search includes scientific and grey literature. The scientific literature was conducted using PubMed, Elsevier Embase, and Web of Science databases. A grey literature web search was performed to complement the results. A total of 35 studies (28 from the scientific literature and 7 from the grey literature) were finally included. A large majority of research articles (24/28) and almost all reports (6/7) from the grey literature were published after 2010. Results show that the tools that were found most frequently are the nested models (12/35), health impact assessment (6/35), vulnerability and adaptation assessment (3/35), conceptual frameworks (3/35), and mixed methods (3/35). This review shows an increasing interest in the topic of developing tools to better manage health issues in adaptation and mitigation strategies, with a recent increase in the number of publications. Additional analyses of tools’ effectiveness should be conducted in further studies.

Highlights

IntroductionClimate change poses serious threats to human health and well-being, and it contributes to increasing health inequalities between and within countries
It should be noted that a majority of studies used models to assess the health impacts of different climate change scenarios without presenting any adaptation or mitigation strategies or tools and methods
This review shows that in recent years there has been increased interest in the topic of developing tools to better manage health issues in adaptation and mitigation strategies

Summary

Introduction

Climate change poses serious threats to human health and well-being, and it contributes to increasing health inequalities between and within countries. The health impacts of climate change can be direct (for example, heat waves, extreme weather, and events such as storms, forest fires, floods, or drought) or indirect through the effects of climate change on ecosystems (for example, agricultural losses, changes in disease distribution patterns, infrastructure disruptions) and on the economy and social structures (for example, migration and conflict) [1,2,3]. The health effects of climate change can be summarized as follows [4]: heat-related disorders, respiratory disorders, infectious diseases including vector- and water-borne diseases, disruptions to food production and mental health disorders.

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