Climate change and health in Southeast Asia – defining research priorities and the role of the Wellcome Trust Africa Asia Programmes

Abstract

This article summarises a recent virtual meeting organised by the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Vietnam on the topic of climate change and health, bringing local partners, faculty and external collaborators together from across the Wellcome and Oxford networks. Attendees included invited local and global climate scientists, clinicians, modelers, epidemiologists and community engagement practitioners, with a view to setting priorities, identifying synergies and fostering collaborations to help define the regional climate and health research agenda. In this summary paper, we outline the major themes and topics that were identified and what will be needed to take forward this research for the next decade. We aim to take a broad, collaborative approach to including climate science in our current portfolio where it touches on infectious diseases now, and more broadly in our future research directions. We will focus on strengthening our research portfolio on climate-sensitive diseases, and supplement this with high quality data obtained from internal studies and external collaborations, obtained by multiple methods, ranging from traditional epidemiology to innovative technology and artificial intelligence and community-led research. Through timely agenda setting and involvement of local stakeholders, we aim to help support and shape research into global heating and health in the region.

Role of public health professionals in the climate and ecological crisis: a qualitative study

“…Despite the specific conditions of the English public health system, we identified several themes that have been mentioned in previous literature. Substantial concern about the impacts of climate change on health were almost ubiquitous in studies16 19–22 in line with international agencies’ concerns 23–25. Evidence suggests however that action to protect health is inadequate, a recent review of local authority climate change plans found that 80% of all local authorities have a climate change plan, but only 50% included reference to the health impacts of the climate crisis 26.…”

The Diagnosis of Dengue in Patients Presenting With Acute Febrile Illness Using Supervised Machine Learning and Impact of Seasonality

“…It is therefore possible that the use of data of much greater granularity from meteorological, hydrological, entomological, and behavioural sources could translate into models with better performance. Novel methods of data acquisition utilising mHealth or drone technologies could provide the necessary substrates for more precise modelling ( 8 ). Clinical prediction models have traditionally focused only on patient variables, but machine learning approaches are inherently scalable systems and can integrate large datasets from diverse sources.…”

“…Low-cost and robust molecular diagnostics are much needed and developments are underway (7), but their widespread implementation currently remains infeasible. With the backdrop of human-induced climate change, new autochthonous transmission and changing seasonal epidemiology of dengue, new tools to support clinical diagnosis, and management are warranted (8)(9)(10).…”