The latest scientific advances on the impacts of climate change on the health of the elderly in East China were reviewed consulting peer-reviewed publications from 2000 to 2017. The direct impacts of climate change result from rising temperatures, heat waves, and increases in the frequency of complex extreme weather events such as windstorms, floods, and droughts. The health and social consequences of these events are far reaching, ranging from reduced labour productivity and heat-related deaths through to direct physical injury during extreme weather events, the spread of infectious diseases, and mental health effects following widespread flooding or prolonged drought. Research has indicated that climate change will have the greatest impact on vulnerable groups of people, including the elderly population. However, there is a dearth of empirical evidence, a lack of focus on vulnerable segments of the population (especially elderly), limited understanding of how health status will change in the future, and lack of acknowledgement of how different regions in China vary in terms of the consequences of climate change. The main risk in East China that climate change may exacerbate is flooding (sea level rise, coastal and riverine, flood risk). However in some regions of East China such as in the provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu, Hebei, and Shandong the biggest climate change risk is considered to be drought. Main health risks linked to climate change are evident as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases (heat stroke, exhaustion, and asthma), often caused by interactions between heat wave episodes and concurrent poor air quality.

This systematic review aims to appraise the quality of evidence on greenness co-benefits of climate change and health. Although there is evidence of the co-benefits of greenness on climate change and health, the research is of poor quality when it comes to addressing the connections and identifying mediators of greenness and climate change mitigation associations. As a result, the evaluation sought to identify areas where there was little or no evidence in order to guide future research. Current published studies mainly covered six health outcome categories (birth outcomes, physical activity, mental wellbeing, obesity, mortality, and cognitive function). For adaptation, greenness and climate change associated studies included (1) cooling down effect and urban heat island impact, (2) air quality improvement, and (3) flood mitigation. For each outcome, we performed a systematic search of publications on Web of Science, PubMed, Google Scholar, and Science Direct databases from 2000 to July 2021. After retrieving records in which full papers were assessed and non-English articles were excluded, a total of 173 articles, including research articles and reviews, were chosen. To ascertain the strength of evidence, all interventions were assessed using the GRADE approach. The quality of evidence ranged from moderate to high for most categories of health outcomes (birth outcomes, mental wellbeing, mortality). GRADE assessment provided low-quality evidence for studies on air quality, flood mitigation, physical activity, and obesity due to poor study design (observational or limited data) and high heterogeneity (some data provided variability), and the review concluded that there is insufficient evidence on firm recommendations for public health interventions. Due to a huge number of low quality evidence and several areas of overlapping study, this evaluation recognized the co-benefits of greenness on climate change and health as an understudied field and hence as a research gap. The evidentiary foundation for greenness-climate change mitigation links, on the other hand, was generally weak. Future research on climate change greenness co-benefit interventions should pay special attention to flood prevention, air quality interactions, and health effects including physical activity and obesity.

While evidence of Indigenous Peoples’ climate knowledge and adaptation practices is readily available in Canada, regional variations are poorly understood and proper representation and recognition in academic and planning contexts are scarce. Much less still is known about the health and environmental impacts of climate change on these communities. This review sought to report and assess the evidence of such impacts on Indigenous Peoples in Atlantic Canada over the past two decades. Current published studies focused on Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge and perceptions and highlight government policy for adaptation measurements. We systematically searched publications between January 2002 to March 2022 from the Web of Science, PubMed, Google Scholar, and Science Direct databases, screening for (1) environmental and (2) health impacts of climate change on Indigenous Peoples. Fifty-six articles were selected and thoroughly reviewed using the GRADE approach to assess the quality of the evidence. The quality of evidence ranged from low to moderate, and the evidentiary foundation for links between climate change and health effects was weak. We thus find an opportunity for future research to focus on climate-related effects on the health and lands of Indigenous Peoples within Atlantic Canada, especially concerning impacts on mental health.

Tourism is being impacted by climate change all around the world. Tourism is now seen as one of the economic sectors least equipped for the risks and opportunities provided by climate change, and it is just now establishing the capacity to advance the knowledge required to teach businesses, communities, and governments about the concerns and potential solutions. As a small coastal island, Prince Edward Island (PEI) on Canada’s Atlantic coast is highly vulnerable to climate change extremes, including coastal erosion, sea-level rise, and flooding. The island’s tourism industry generates substantial revenue for businesses and the government, yet it is highly vulnerable to the climate extremes that impact beach and sea-faring attractions. Limited research has been reported on this topic, and most information on island tourism and how sustainable tourism is achievable is out of date. Here, we present evidence of climate-related impacts and vulnerabilities in tourism within PEI and highlight existing and future adaptation strategies to support sustainability in this sector. Key information gaps are highlighted, and recommendations are proposed to facilitate climate resilience in Prince Edward Island’s tourism sector.

South America, once an epicenter of COVID-19, has stayed on the road of continued management of the pandemic. The region initially struggled to cope with the pandemic as it experienced spiraling numbers of infections and overwhelmed public health systems. South America has risen in its pandemic response to be the region with the highest global vaccination rate. The region posed a strong vaccination drive, with over 76% of its population fully vaccinated with the initial protocol. South America leveraged its deeply rooted vaccination culture and public health confidence among its population. Herd immunity is an integral concept in population infectious disease management. Attaining herd immunity is presently not feasible with available vaccines, but the high vaccination rate in the region depicts the acceptance of vaccination as a strategy for population protection. The availability of effective transmission-blocking vaccines, the continuous implementation of strategies that will enable the undisrupted supply of the vaccines, equity in access to the vaccines, improved vaccine acceptance, and trust in the vaccination and public health systems will help shepherd the region towards herd immunity. Local vaccine production backed with investment in infrastructure and international collaboration for research and knowledge development will also drive population safety.

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