New Study May Develop Early Warning Systems for Climate-Related Health Risks

A new study looks at the obstacles that have slowed the recent implementation of early warning systems designed to help local health officials predict and respond to outbreaks of climate-related diseases in the tropics.

The researchers propose a four-step, science-based framework for overcoming these barriers and improving the success of early warning systems using knowledge and tools from the field of implementation science.

Study shows how to boost early intervention for climate-related health risks

(Photo : Malcolm Lightbody/Unsplash)

Predicting where and when extreme weather and other environmental effects of climate change will increase the risk of infectious disease outbreaks can assist public health officials in responding earlier and more effectively to control the spread and reduce the toll, as per ScienceDaily.

Indeed, early warning systems designed to do just that have been developed in recent years to aid in the control of outbreaks of malaria, dengue fever, and other diseases in the Tropics.

However, their implementation has been hampered by funding uncertainty, overburdened local health systems, insufficient training for local health technicians, and a lack of buy-in from government decision-makers.

An international team of researchers from 15 institutions evaluated these implementation barriers and proposed new approaches. The team's recommendations were published in The Lancet Planetary Health on November 9th.

According to the researchers, early engagement with key decision-makers is critical.

"We looked at five case studies, and most of the barriers we identified could have been resolved by getting policymakers and community leaders on board right from the start," said William Pan, co-lead author of the study and the Elizabeth Brooks Reid and Whitelaw Reid Associate Professor of Population Studies at Duke University.

In the case studies, scientists frequently prioritized establishing monitoring systems, disease-control protocols, and local partners before briefing national or regional policymakers.

Pan explained that the problem with this approach was that the local partners who were supposed to take over running the system once it was established were not necessarily government decision-makers with the authority to commit ongoing financial or political support for it.

Training local health providers and technicians in environmental science should be a top priority right away.

Local health systems are typically stretched thin, especially in poor or remote areas, and those who do disease surveillance on the ground often have limited training in climate science or environmental epidemiology, according to Pan.

They've been educated in medicine or public health, but not in how climate-sensitive environmental conditions like extreme heat, drought, or flooding can fuel disease outbreaks.

As a result, they don't know what to look for, how to forecast future effects, or how or when to adjust disease-control interventions in advance, he said.

The new study is based on case studies of recently developed early warning systems for climate-related disease outbreaks or public health risks in Peru, Barbados, Ethiopia, India, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands.

Pan is a member of the Duke Nicholas School of the Environment and the Duke Global Health Institute's faculty.

He worked with Gila Neta of the National Cancer Institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, to co-lead the new study.

Read more: Heatwave Prompted by Climate Change May Cause Shortage of Christmas Tree This Year

Climate change is the most serious threat to humanity's health.

Climate change is the single greatest health threat confronting humanity, and health professionals all over the world are already responding to the health consequences of this unfolding crisis, as per World Health Organization.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has concluded that the world must limit temperature rise to 1.5°C to avoid catastrophic health effects and prevent millions of climate change-related deaths.

Past emissions have already rendered a certain level of global temperature rise and other climate changes unavoidable.

Even 1.5°C of global warming is not considered safe; every additional tenth of a degree of warming will have a serious impact on people's lives and health.

While no one is immune to these dangers, those whose health is being harmed the most and the most severely by the climate crisis are those who contribute the least to its causes and are least able to protect themselves and their families from it - people in low-income and disadvantaged countries and communities.

The climate crisis threatens to undo the last fifty years of development, global health, and poverty reduction progress, as well as to exacerbate existing health disparities between and within populations.

It jeopardizes the realization of universal health coverage (UHC) in a variety of ways, including by compounding the existing disease burden and exacerbating existing barriers to accessing health services, often at the most critical times.

Over 930 million people, or approximately 12% of the global population, spend at least 10% of their household budget on health care.

With the poorest people largely uninsured, health shocks and stresses already push around 100 million people into poverty each year, with the effects of climate change exacerbated.

Climate change is already having an impact on health in a variety of ways, including the increased frequency of extreme weather events such as heatwaves, storms, and floods, the disruption of food systems, increases in zoonoses and food-, water-, and vector-borne diseases, and mental health issues.

Furthermore, climate change is undermining many of the social determinants of health, including employment, equality, access to health care, and social support structures.

Related article: Is Climate Change at Fault for Rising Allergie Cases?