Child malnutrition and climate in Sub-Saharan Africa: An analysis of recent trends in Kenya

Grace, Kathryn; Davenport, Frank; Funk, Chris; Lerner, Amy M.

doi:10.1016/j.apgeog.2012.06.017

Cited by 142 publications

(139 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…For all countries combined in the Greater Horn of Africa, Chotard et al (37) observed that the prevalence of childhood wasting was dependent on the livelihood pattern and was 6.7 percentage points higher in pastoral groups than in agriculturalists. In Kenya, the prevalence of stunting varied according to the dominant livelihood strategy and was highest in mixed farming zones (26). In Mali, high prevalence of stunting (particularly in rural areas), underweight, and anemia were predicted in children from households with agricultural, agropastoral, and pastoral livelihood patterns and in children living in arid and semiarid climatic conditions (52).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Four (26,38,39,47) of the nine studies (7 of the 15 studies and two supporting studies) that assessed the association between maternal education and childhood undernutrition reported a significant association. Similarly, two (26,38) of the four studies that assessed the association between undernutrition and the source of water (a strong socioeconomic indicator) reported a significant association.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, two (26,38) of the four studies that assessed the association between undernutrition and the source of water (a strong socioeconomic indicator) reported a significant association. Further, although most studies focused on rural households (inclusion criteria), five studies investigated the discrepancies between urban and rural.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, a majority of the previous studies make only partial assessments. We found only two models that covered agroclimatic analysis to evaluate effects on childhood malnutrition (9,26) and one review assessing the impacts of climate change on pregnancy outcomes (27). Earlier reviews have investigated the impact of agricultural interventions or food production and agricultural strategies for improving outcomes in children's nutrition and health (28)(29)(30), the impact of climate change on disability-adjusted life years (31), the impacts of temperature on children's health (32), the health effects of drought (33), and the effects of climate change on crops yields (34).…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

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Systematic review of current efforts to quantify the impacts of climate change on undernutrition

Phalkey

Aranda-Jan

Marx

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

189

159

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Malnutrition is a challenge to the health and productivity of populations and is viewed as one of the five largest adverse health impacts of climate change. Nonetheless, systematic evidence quantifying these impacts is currently limited. Our aim was to assess the scientific evidence base for the impact of climate change on childhood undernutrition (particularly stunting) in subsistence farmers in low-and middle-income countries. A systematic review was conducted to identify peer-reviewed and gray full-text documents in English with no limits for year of publication or study design. Fifteen manuscripts were reviewed. Few studies use primary data to investigate the proportion of stunting that can be attributed to climate/ weather variability. Although scattered and limited, current evidence suggests a significant but variable link between weather variables, e.g., rainfall, extreme weather events (floods/droughts), seasonality, and temperature, and childhood stunting at the household level (12 of 15 studies, 80%). In addition, we note that agricultural, socioeconomic, and demographic factors at the household and individual levels also play substantial roles in mediating the nutritional impacts. Comparable interdisciplinary studies based on primary data at a household level are urgently required to guide effective adaptation, particularly for rural subsistence farmers. Systemization of data collection at the global level is indispensable and urgent. We need to assimilate data from long-term, high-quality agricultural, environmental, socioeconomic, health, and demographic surveillance systems and develop robust statistical methods to establish and validate causal links, quantify impacts, and make reliable predictions that can guide evidence-based health interventions in the future.climate change | weather variability | malnutrition | childhood undernutrition | crop yield

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

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Systematic review of current efforts to quantify the impacts of climate change on undernutrition

Phalkey

Aranda-Jan

Marx

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

189

159

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…88,89 Sensitivity of crops and livestock to weather variation has a substantial impact on food security in regions that are already food insecure, pushing up food prices and ultimately affecting food availability and affordability to poor populations and contributing to malnutrition. 90 This effect is amplified by polices on food stocks, reactions to food prices by producer countries, and by the global demand for land to hedge against climate shifts. The increased volatility of the global food system under climate change has impacts on labour, on farmer livelihoods and on consumers of food, with attendant health outcomes for all these groups.…”

Section: Indirect and Complex Mechanisms Linking Climate Change And Hmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health and climate change: policy responses to protect public health

2015

Br Dent J

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Executive summaryThe 2015 Lancet Commission on Health and Climate Change has been formed to map out the impacts of climate change, and the necessary policy responses, in order to ensure the highest attainable standards of health for populations worldwide. This Commission is multi-disciplinary and international in nature, with strong collabor-ation between academic centres in Europe and China.The central finding from the Commission's work is that tackling climate change could be the greatest global health opportunity of the 21st century. The key messages from the Commission are summarised below, accompanied by ten underlying recommendations to accelerate action in the next 5 years.The effects of climate change are being felt today, and future projections represent an unacceptably high and potentially catastrophic risk to human healthThe implications of climate change for a global population of 9 billion people threatens to undermine the last half century o f gains in development and global health. The direct effects of climate change include increased heat stress, floods, drought, and increased frequency of intense storms, with the indirect threatening population health through adverse changes in air pollution, the spread of disease vectors, food insecurity and under-nutrition, displacement, and mental ill health.Keeping the global average temperature rise to less than 2°C to avoid the risk of potentially catastrophic climate change impacts requires total anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to be kept below 2900 billion tonnes (GtCO2) by the end of the century. As of 2011, total emissions since 1870 were a little over half of this, with current trends expected to exceed 2900 GtCO2 in the next 15-30 years. High-end emissions projection scenarios show global average warming of 2·6-4·8°C by the end of the century, with all their regional amplification and attendant impacts.Tackling climate change could be the greatest global health opportunity of the 21st century Given the potential of climate change to reverse the health gains from economic development, and the health co-benefits that accrue from actions for a sustainable economy, tackling climate change could be the greatest global health opportunity of this century. Many mitigation and adaptation responses to climate change are "no-regret" options, which lead to direct reductions in the burden of ill-health, enhance community resilience, alleviate poverty, and address global inequity. Benefits are realised by ensuring that countries are unconstrained by climate change, enabling them to achieve better health and wellbeing for their populations. These strategies will also reduce pressures on national health budgets, delivering potentially large cost savings, and enable investments in stronger, more resilient health systems. The Commission recommends that over the next 5 years, governments:1 Invest in climate change and public health research, monitoring, and surveillance to ensure a better understanding of the adaptation needs and the potential health co-b...

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Climate Change

Patz

Frumkin

Holloway

et al. 2014

JAMA

396

152

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IMPORTANCE Health is inextricably linked to climate change. It is important for clinicians to understand this relationship in order to discuss associated health risks with their patients and to inform public policy. OBJECTIVES To provide new US-based temperature projections from downscaled climate modeling and to review recent studies on health risks related to climate change and the cobenefits of efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. DATA SOURCES, STUDY SELECTION, AND DATA SYNTHESIS We searched PubMed and Google Scholar from 2009 to 2014 for articles related to climate change and health, focused on governmental reports, predictive models, and empirical epidemiological studies. Of the more than 250 abstracts reviewed, 56 articles were selected. In addition, we analyzed climate data averaged over 13 climate models and based future projections on downscaled probability distributions of the daily maximum temperature for 2046–2065. We also compared maximum daily 8-hour average ozone with air temperature data taken from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Climate Data Center. RESULTS By 2050, many US cities may experience more frequent extreme heat days. For example, New York and Milwaukee may have 3 times their current average number of days hotter than 32°C (90°F). High temperatures are also strongly associated with ozone exceedance days, for example, in Chicago, Illinois. The adverse health aspects related to climate change may include heat-related disorders, such as heat stress and economic consequences of reduced work capacity; respiratory disorders, including those exacerbated by air pollution and aeroallergens, such as asthma; infectious diseases, including vectorborne diseases and waterborne diseases, such as childhood gastrointestinal diseases; food insecurity, including reduced crop yields and an increase in plant diseases; and mental health disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder and depression, that are associated with natural disasters. Substantial health and economic cobenefits could be associated with reductions in fossil fuel combustion. For example, greenhouse gas emission policies may yield net economic benefit, with health benefits from air quality improvements potentially offsetting the cost of US and international carbon policies. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Evidence over the past 20 years indicates that climate change can be associated with adverse health outcomes. Health care professionals have an important role in understanding and communicating the related potential health concerns and the cobenefits from policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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Child malnutrition and climate in Sub-Saharan Africa: An analysis of recent trends in Kenya

Cited by 142 publications

References 21 publications

Systematic review of current efforts to quantify the impacts of climate change on undernutrition

Systematic review of current efforts to quantify the impacts of climate change on undernutrition

Health and climate change: policy responses to protect public health

Climate Change

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