Eastern and Southern African Regional Hub for Research and Policy on Climate Change and Health

 

The effects of climate change on human health are wide-ranging, from the direct impacts of extreme weather such as floods and heatwaves, to indirect impacts such as new and re-emerging diseases and mental stress. These impacts will place additional pressure on health systems in lower-income countries, especially on the health workforce, which is ill-prepared to respond effectively to climate-induced health risks. Additionally, the significant health co-benefits from climate action need to be demonstrated more widely and integrated into climate action policies and programs to maximize health outcomes.

In the last decade, East Africa has experienced half the continent's droughts, including one of the longest droughts in the Horn of Africa, causing severe food and water shortages. Meanwhile, Southern Africa has recently faced a series of devastating tropical storms and cyclones. This project seeks to establish a hub that will support research to address critical knowledge gaps at the nexus of climate and health in Eastern and Southern Africa. The hub will support gender-transformative research and action on climate change and health with the vision of improving public health outcomes and fostering resilient communities through transdisciplinary research, policy advocacy and community engagement.

This project is part of the Advancing Research for Climate and Health (ARCH) initiative, a five-year partnership between the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and IDRC to address critical knowledge gaps at the intersection of climate change and health. ARCH will support five regional hubs on climate change and health, which will establish, manage and support a cohort of sub-grantee-led research projects in their respective regions.