Systems Approach to Climate Services for Health
Approaches that integrate climate information, observations and models are required for actionable knowledge about the health impacts of climate exposure.
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There is growing and incontrovertible evidence that climate change and variability can directly and indirectly act as an amplifier of threats to human health globally. The World Health Organization estimated that 12.6 million or 23 percent of all deaths worldwide in 2012 were attributable to environmental factors mainly related to climate variability. Human health outcomes are largely impacted by both extreme weather events (EWEs) and gradual changes in weather and climatic conditions. EWEs, on the one hand, can affect physical and psychosocial wellbeing, influence access to healthcare and cause vulnerability. Gradual climatic changes, on the other, can trigger exposure to harmful or beneficial health conditions.
Recent scientific models and predictions show that the global effects of climate change are more pressing than ever. The evidence demonstrates increasing health effects of variations in climatic conditions. It also shows that non-integrated (climate information alone or health information only) is inadequate for decision making on diseases and illnesses related to climate variability. Rather than only focusing on ‘climate change’ as the central issue the overall system in which climate change is occurring and playing itself out is needed for informed climate action. Transdisciplinary approaches that integrate actionable climate information, observations and models are required for actionable knowledge about the health impacts of climate exposure.
Integrating climate and health information and making it actionable is, however, a very difficult task. Nevertheless, increased mortality and morbidity has intensified the urgency for responding decisively to health impacts of climate change. A holistic, robust and sustained health- climate response requires effective deployment of accurate and tailored climate information and dedicated climate services.
One arena for action is what has been termed "climate services" defined as the “transformation of climate-related data—together with other relevant information—into customized products such as projections, forecasts, information, trends, economic analysis, assessments (including technology assessment), counseling on best practices development and evaluation of solutions and any other services in relation to climate that may be used for the society at large”. They encompass timely provision of tailored climate information and knowledge working with and for decision makers.
Dedicated climate services, that is, climate services for health are vital for enhancing human health adaptation and resilience to the health impacts of climate change. Climate services for health are defined as “the entire iterative process of joint collaboration between relevant multidisciplinary partners to identify, generate and build capacity to access, develop, deliver and use relevant and reliable climate knowledge to enhance health decisions”. They encompass use of climate and environmental information in healthcare decision making. Underpinning them is a realization that climate is a key variable in managing the overall burden of disease, excess mortality and to increase life expectancy.
This perspective article examines the application of systems approach to climate services for health. The systems approach to climate services for health can be defined as a holistic and transdisciplinary framework for understanding the dynamic and complex interconnectedness and non-linear feedback loops that exist between health and climate information as well as other social, economic and environmental dimensions that affect health outcomes, It also elaborates the merits of the systems approach to climate services for health. It aims to provide conceptual clarity on climate services for health as well as fill in existing gaps in literature on the subject. Conceptual clarity is important for a diverse range of stakeholders making policies and planning for health adaptation and resilience. The insights presented are derived from selected examples and case studies. With this background, we firstly explore why the systems approach is necessary for climate services for health.
Conclusions
The human health effects of climate change and variability are well established in existing literature. Therefore, climate services for health that facilitate decision making and effective responses to the health impacts of climate change are urgently required. In this perspective article, we used examples from Ethiopia, Bhutan and Germany to examine the application of the systems approach to climate services. We drew some insights from the examples and highlighted the merits of applying the systems approach.
Overall, the application of the systems approach to climate services for health can promote integration of climate-health information, effective institutional and policy coordination, capacity building activities, adaptive and interactive learning as well as evolution of contextually relevant climate services for health focused on the most vulnerable populations. The approach can ensure timely review of policies and adaptive adjustment of institutions, necessary for an effective response system. It can help inform policy and practice decisions. It also furthers transdisciplinary ethos in policy and practice and can help bring together information from diverse sources towards a robust service. The application of the systems approach is necessary to enhance health adaptation and resilience.
The empirical evidence presented showed that the systems approach to climate services for health encompasses various dimensions. Regardless of this, the government has a greater role to play in promoting delivery of effective climate services for health. This article importantly provided new insights on how the systems approach has been applied to climate services for health and filled in gaps in knowledge on this subject. It also proffered some suggestions on how to enhance the application of the approach in future. Future studies that focus on the application of the systems approach to climate services for health at regional and international levels are encouraged. While this article provided a robust conceptual framework and rationale for its use, testing and using the framework in other settings will help refine the framework. As such, we recommend some case studies that further refine the conceptualization and application of the systems approach to climate services for health.
This article was written by Albert Edgar Manyuchi, Coleen Vogel, Caradee Y. Wright and Barend Erasmus.