Impacts of climate change on public health in India - Future research directions - Paper published in Environmental Health Perspectives

This paper published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives reviews the current state of the science relevant to the 2009 Joint Indo–U.S. Workshop on Climate Change and Health that was held in Goa, India, and, then discusses the observed relationships between climate variability and human health specifically in relation to the Indian subcontinent, highlighting future research directions.

The paper briefly summarises relevant literature on the impacts of climate change in India and touches upon the opportunities and significant challenges associated with designing, initiating, and conducting research, as well as pursuing related public health programming to improve public health infrastructure in the face of climate change. The paper argues that such research is needed to pave the way for unique and pioneering solutions that can improve public health in the face of increasing climate variability.

The paper highlights the following impacts of climate change in India and identifies areas for research and intervention:

Poverty and baseline vulnerability

These problems stand the risk of being exacerbated in the context of poverty and deprivation. Millions of people below the poverty line and those in rural areas represent high-risk populations who are exposed to health risks, including poor sanitation, pollution, malnutrition, and a constant shortage of clean drinking water. Future research needs to explore the linkages between these emerging and reemerging diseases, climate change and the socioeconomic and cultural contexts that might be creating favourable conditions for diseases to occur among populations and can be useful to devise prevention strategies to control the spread of these diseases in populations.

Waterborne infectious disease

Research in this area must be both temporally and spatially specific. Furthermore, it requires local monitoring of the appropriate climate and disease variables because underreporting impedes the development of effective prevention strategies. It is critical to build a data infrastructure and conduct such research in India so that region-specific models based on climate and health can be developed.

Heat stress and air pollution

Potential adaptation strategies in India could focus on controlling infectious diseases by removing vector breeding sites, reducing vector–human contact via improved housing, and coordinating monitoring of mosquitoes, pathogens, and disease burden. Another potential focus area for adaptation could be improving sanitation and drinking water by supporting inexpensive and effective water treatment and increasing rainwater harvesting,safe storage, and gray-water reuse

Current surveillance and data sources

The paper makes the following recommendations based on the Goa workshop and subsequent discussions, to advance research relevant to climate change and human health:

• Environmental monitoring and surveillance: Need to improve environmental monitoring and surveillance systems in low and middle income countries such as India
• Geospatial technology: Geographic information systems and spatial analysis must be further developed; they are very useful tools when conducting vulnerability assessments, assessing environmental exposures, prioritising research, and disseminating findings to decision makers and the public alike
• Human and technical capacity: For these new surveillance methods and analytical techniques to be effective, countries like India will need to enhance their human and technical capacity for risk communication. This could take the form of public education on climate change and associated health impacts to enhance awareness and to influence lifestyle, behavior, and individual choices to protect and improve health

The paper ends by arguing that innovative, multidisciplinary investigations using environmental epidemiologic methods to elucidate health risks posed by climate variability and subsequent climate change in regions such as India are possible. However, such work needs to have expanded partnerships among researchers, governments, and communities to develop a cobenefit strategy that addresses public health challenges and risks associated with climate change.

A copy of the paper can be accessed from this link