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Climate Change Adaption for Public Health

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2020) | Viewed by 5987

Special Issue Editor

Division of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
Interests: disaster epidemiology; occupational and environmental epidemiology; injury epidemiology

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

Climate change is one of the most dire and rapidly growing threats to public health in the twenty-first century. Aside from the direct consequences we have already been experiencing, such as the growing frequency of extreme weather events and outbreaks of vector and water-borne diseases, the slow and indirect impacts that are gradually coming to the fore are also of great concern, particularly in the areas of mental health, chronic noncommunicable diseases, food security, population migration and displacement, and the consequent overburdening of health systems.

However, while the national governments that came together at Paris Agreement have identified human health as the top 6th priority sector to improve, in reality, only limited efforts have been allocated to the health sector. Specifically, 85% of 136 developing countries included health in their Nationally Determined Contributions, but only 0.5% of 1.5 billion USD of multilateral climate projects has been funded to the health sector. This is only one of the many examples demonstrating the sluggishness in mainstreaming and responding to this serious problem.  

In light of this collective challenge, one of the best ways to contribute for us as scholars and professionals in the field of public health would be to take the lead in identifying needs and gaps, assessing the best adaptation strategies from policy developments, and suggesting directions in engineering interventions. 

In this Special Issue, we would like to share the best public health adaptation strategies and technologies to minimize climate change impacts to public health. We highly encourage innovative ideas and insightful observations, such as policy analyses to identify current needs and gaps on climate change action plans, reviews of existing technologies that can be effectively converted to climate-resilient technologies, and introduction of new technologies in disaster preparedness, and in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), with particular interest in rainwater harvesting, ground water treatments, and dry toilets with flood-proofness.

Dr. Hyun Kim
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Climate change adaptation for public health
  • Climate resilience
  • Climate resilient technologies
  • Policy development and implementation
  • Engineering interventions
  • Evaluation and monitoring
  • Health impact assessment
  • Vulnerability and adaptation assessment

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 516 KiB  
Article
Associations of Relative Humidity and Lifestyles with Metabolic Syndrome among the Ecuadorian Adult Population: Ecuador National Health and Nutrition Survey (ENSANUT-ECU) 2012
by Christian F. Juna, Yoon Hee Cho, Dongwoo Ham and Hyojee Joung
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(23), 9023; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17239023 - 3 Dec 2020
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2352
Abstract
The effects of the physical environment on metabolic syndrome (MetS) are still largely unexplained. This study aimed to analyze the associations of relative humidity of residence, lifestyles, and MetS among Ecuadorian adults. Data from 6024 people aged 20 to 60 years were obtained [...] Read more.
The effects of the physical environment on metabolic syndrome (MetS) are still largely unexplained. This study aimed to analyze the associations of relative humidity of residence, lifestyles, and MetS among Ecuadorian adults. Data from 6024 people aged 20 to 60 years were obtained from an Ecuador national population-based health and nutrition survey (i.e., ENSANUT-ECU, 2012) and the mean annual relative humidity (%) from the Ecuador National Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (2012). Odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for MetS according to groups of relative humidity were calculated using multiple logistic regression. Living in high relative humidity (>80%) increased ORs of reduced high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (1.25; 95 % CI, 1.06–1.56) and MetS (OR = 1.20; 95 % CI,1.01–1.42) in women. Furthermore, physically active men living in high relative humidity showed lower OR of elevated triglycerides (0.56; 95 % CI,0.37–0.85) while menopausal women living in high relative humidity showed increased ORs of MetS (5.42; 95 % CI, 1.92–15.27), elevated blood pressure (3.10; 95 % CI, 1.15–8.35), and increased waist circumference (OR = 1.34; 95 % CI, 1.09–1.63). Our results show that residence in high relative humidity and menopausal status increase ORs of MetS and its components in Ecuadorian women; however, physical activity significantly reduces the OR of elevated triglycerides in men. The obtained findings may help make public health policies regarding environmental humidity management, nutritional education, menopausal care, and physical activity promotion to prevent the onset of MetS among Ecuadorian adults. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change Adaption for Public Health)
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14 pages, 804 KiB  
Article
The Outrage Effect of Personal Stake, Familiarity, Effects on Children, and Fairness on Climate Change Risk Perception Moderated by Political Orientation
by Myoungsoon You and Youngkee Ju
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(18), 6722; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17186722 - 15 Sep 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3010
Abstract
Outrage factors are perceived characteristics of risk that provoke emotional responses and influence risk perception. Although several studies examined how multiple influences affect climate change risk perception, outrage factors have not been comprehensively assessed in the context of climate change risk perception. Using [...] Read more.
Outrage factors are perceived characteristics of risk that provoke emotional responses and influence risk perception. Although several studies examined how multiple influences affect climate change risk perception, outrage factors have not been comprehensively assessed in the context of climate change risk perception. Using an online survey in South Korea (n = 592), we investigated outrage factors associated with climate change risk perception and whether political orientation moderates these outrage effects. We considered 11 of 20 outrage factors: voluntariness, controllability, familiarity, fairness, uncertainty, delayed effects, effects on children, trust, reversibility, personal stake, and human vs. natural origin. Factors that overlapped with the selected outrage factors or those that were not relevant to climate change were excluded. The survey revealed that the climate change risk perception of an individual increased when they perceived climate change to be relevant to their personal lives, when they felt unfamiliar with climate change, when they thought climate change would have a severe impact on children, or when they thought climate change would have unequal consequences. Moreover, respondents who identified as political conservatives were subject to a greater outrage effect of personal stake for climate change. The implications of the outrage effect on climate change risk perception and the greater vulnerability of conservatives to outrage effect are discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change Adaption for Public Health)
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