The Center for Global Health Studies of the Fogarty International Center is calling for submissions of case studies “on adaptation strategies that respond to the impact of climate change on public health”, with the aim of identifying and understanding current or historical adaptation responses “that can be better harnessed to address deteriorating health outcomes using relevant and appropriate research”.
For the purposes of the call to action, the Center for Global Health Studies defines adaptation as “the process of adjustment to actual and potential climate-led impacts”. Some examples include heat-resistant crops, behaviour change, awareness building, green infrastructure, health system resilience and health workforce capacity-building.
Specifically, by collecting case studies in this area, the Center for Global Health Studies seeks to emphasise the importance of examining health as a critical outcome in larger climate adaptation research; encourage scholars and funders to conduct and support more high quality research in this area; review current adaptation strategies to improve understanding of the populations most at risk of climate change impacts; and identify “how and when the impact of climate-led adaptation responses on public health outcomes has been or can be assessed through research”.
The project is to ” contribute to building a solutions-oriented evidence base focused on the threats to health from global climate change”.
The Steering Committee will be looking for case studies that offer new insights into “adaptation strategies that appear particularly promising with respect to impact on health”, “theoretical and methodological challenges in studying the impact of climate adaptation on health”, innovative research approaches and methods that can be deployed to study climate adaptation and health”, “strategies to understand how and why adaptation interventions impact health”, and “implementation science approaches to enable translation of adaptation strategies across different contexts, geographies, and areas of health”.
Researchers, practitioners and implementers from any country are encourage to submit their proposals by 16 October. Eight to 12 applications are expected to be selected to be developed into full case studies, with final drafts anticipated to be submitted to the journal by August of 2024.
In related news on climate change, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has launched a new independent review “harnessing technology to help London tackle climate threat”.
Elsewhere, research funded by the National Institute for Health Research has shown that “the impact of pungent gases on health care use is far greater than previously reported”, and indicates that the delayed impact of exposure to air pollution has been “underestimated”.
To find out more about the call for proposals, please click here.
