FOR 2936:  Climate Change and Health in Sub-Saharan Africa

• Subject Area: Medicine ; Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine ; Geosciences ; Computer Science, Systems and Electrical Engineering ; Social and Behavioural Sciences
• Term: from 2019 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 409670289

This interdisciplinary Research Unit (RU) addresses the astonishingly big evidence gap on climate change and health in sub-Saharan Africa. In the first RU phase, we focused on studying the climate change impacts, evaluating potential adaptation strategies to lift those impacts, and projecting both, the health impacts and the potential health-benefits from adaptation strategies, to future climate scenarios. We work in rural Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems (HDSS) in north-western Burkina Faso and south-western Kenya, where undernutrition, cardiovascular heat-stress, and malaria constitute major health problems. In both sites, we evolved the HDSS to climate-ready population observatories with demographic, health, climate, socio-economic, agriculture, and behaviour data of entire population cohorts. The existing models for future climate, climate impacts, and economic effects were tailored to the study locations through downscaling, bias-correction, and nation-wide economic and health data. Historical and prospective links between climate change and the three health outcomes were established, and will be advanced in the second RU phase. Importantly, we will introduce an additional research focus on adaptation measures, providing best-practice examples for designing, implementing and evaluating adaptation strategies that apply technological innovation, behaviour change or policy options. The overarching goal of the second RU phase is to gain in-depth understanding about the effectiveness of local adaptation strategies on health in sub-Saharan Africa – today and under future climate scenarios. We have four specific objectives: i) Identify and quantify potential impacts of future climate change on child undernutrition, malaria and heat stress; ii) Determine the effectiveness and potential socio-economic costs of specific adaptation policies and interventions with respect to reducing climate impacts on child undernutrition, malaria, and heat stress; iii) Quantify the economic effects of climate-related health impacts and adaptation strategies at the national level; and iv) Establish the importance of human mobility for climate change-related health impacts and adaptation strategies. In phase 2, we will integrate human mobility responses in the research agenda, because they play an important role in the nexus of climate change and health in sub-Saharan Africa. Our concerted efforts from health sciences, natural sciences, and social sciences will generate unique evidence for decision making about policy implementation and investments in sub-Saharan Africa in order to mitigate climate change, adapt to the existing consequences, and strengthen the local health systems.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• International Connection: Burkina Faso, Kenya, Switzerland

Projects

• Climate change, heat stress and its impact on health and work capacity in vulnerable groups (Applicant Gunga, Hanns-Christian )
• Climate change impact on household food security and child undernutrition (Applicant Sauerborn, Ph.D., Rainer )
• Climate-sensitive nutrients, undernutrition and malaria (Applicant Danquah, Ina )
• Coordination Funds (Applicant Danquah, Ina )
• Coordination Funds (Applicant Danquah, Ina )
• Development and analysis of population health cohorts in Burkina Faso and Kenya (Applicant Barteit, Sandra )
• Drivers, patterns and health consequences of mobility responses - building a simulation tool for anticipatory climate action (Applicant Rocklöv, Joacim )
• Economy-wide effects of climate change induced health impacts and adaptation strategies based on general equilibrium models (Applicant Grethe, Harald )
• Examining the role of agricultural adaptation strategies in reducing the impact of climate change on children's nutritional status (Applicant De Allegri, Ph.D., Manuela )
• Household-level food security under climatic influences and different adaptation scenarios (Applicant Gornott, Christoph )
• Provision of climate and bio-physical forcing data for health impact projections (Applicants Frieler, Katja ;  Hattermann, Fred Fokko )
• Spatio-temporal modelling to assess the impact of climate change on the burden of malaria and to support early warning systems (Applicant Vounatsou, Ph.D., Penelope )
• Subseasonal to seasonal hydrometeorological- and dynamical Malaria transmission forecasting over Sub-Saharan Africa (Applicant Kunstmann, Harald )
• The effects of passive home cooling interventions on health, behavioural and economic outcomes in rural Africa (Applicant Bärnighausen, Ph.D., Till )
• Weather and climate-related impacts on crop yields and food production on regional and national scale (Applicant Lotze-Campen, Hermann )

• Spokesperson: Professorin Dr. Ina Danquah