Climate change has been linked to poverty, malnutrition, non-communicable disease, and vector-borne disease, including diseases that incite epidemics and pandemics. Identifying the intersection between climate and health can help direct targeted strategies for health systems strengthening, addressing emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases and pandemic prevention.
The effects of climate change are increasingly challenging the primary health of underserved populations around the world. Rajasthan, India's largest state and home to 80M people, is disproportionately vulnerable to climate related health impacts. Over 2/3 of people live in rural regions, where 90% of districts face severe water scarcity. Rajasthan is one of five states in India where India is facing record numbers of heat waves. Rajasthan's Bhiwadi industrial area was ranked worst city in the world for air quality, and Rajasthan has the highest burden of COPD and lung-related death in India. There are an estimated 300,000 brick kiln workers in Rajasthan who face the intersection of heat and air pollution related burdens
A study by CLRA found that over 90% of children of these families do not attend school. Rajasthan is also seeing an increase in vector and water-borne disease, further compounding already high IMR, MMR, non-communicable disease and malnutrition burden across the state. At the country level, India’s rapid population expansion over the last 20 years also places the largest number of people in areas with high zoonotic spillover risk.India faces both gaps in identification of climate health prone regions, and in measurement of evidence-based climate health interventions at the sub-national level. Both are required for comprehensive climate health strategy and policy
Khushi Baby’s Climate Health Vulnerability Index (CHVI) allows for both identification of hotspots and impact assessments on local interventions. Using community health worker reports on our platform, we have developed geospatial models and dashboards for health officials to visualize the intersections between climate factors and public health and to subsequently plan and measure the impact of local public health interventions (e.g. information, education, and communication; health worker capacity building; supervision visits; screening camps; infrastructure and supply-side strengthening).India’s national Climate Vulnerability Index, is currently limited to the state level, and as suggested by Debnath et al., currently fails to capture heatwave-related vulnerabilities (45% of states fall into moderate CVI levels but 90% of states are in ‘extremely cautious’ or ‘danger’ levels for HI). Our initiative focuses on the development, implementation, and evaluation of India’s first village level climate health vulnerability index. To be launched across India’s largest state, Rajasthan, home to 80 M people, in partnership with Google.
Vulnerability Hotspots: Identify specific geographic regions and populations that are most susceptible to the health effects of climate change, helping prioritize areas for intervention
Health Risk Factors: Understand the range of health risk factors associated with climate change, including direct impacts like heatwaves and indirect effects like changes in vector-borne disease patterns
Infrastructure Needs: Assess the resilience of existing health infrastructure to climate impacts and identify needs for upgrades or reinforcements to ensure continuity of care during extreme events
Resource Allocation Priorities: Guide policymakers in the strategic allocation of resources such as emergency services, medical supplies, and personnel to the areas of greatest need
Effectiveness of Adaptation Measures: Evaluate the effectiveness of current and planned adaptation strategies to protect public health from climate change
Public Health Planning: Inform public health planning with predictive modeling of climate change effects, allowing for the design of more effective health programs and policies
Impacts: Provide a multidimensional analysis of climate impacts on health, integrating social, economic, and environmental data to offer a comprehensive view of vulnerabilities
