Climate migration and health system preparedness in the United States

Abstract

Every country will have to prepare for climate change. Despite obvious risks to national security in terms of safety, food, and infrastructure as well as impending economic losses, countries like the United States (US) have declined to pursue meaningful federal action. The human impact of climate changespecifically climate migration and its health implicationshas been largely neglected at a policy level. Yet climate migration is predicted to have tremendous consequences for people in the next 30 years and beyond, and with it comes a host of difficulties political, cultural, economic, and structural. Preparedness will be of great importance to potential migrants and how they adapt to their receiving (host) locations. Health systems are one of the most significant institutions impacting long-term migration and these systems' strengths and weaknesses will determine the integration and well-being of migrants for years to come. A critical analysis of existing literature exposes that there is little current research on health system preparedness as it relates to climate migration, especially in the US. To help address this gap, this paper focuses on how the American health system, already fraught with limitations, can prepare for the expected increase in mostly internal migrants in the face of climate change. Key policy insights. Climate migration in the US will pose huge challenges for health systems because of the American health system's unique, pre-existing weaknesses.. To prepare for climate migration, federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial governments should focus on adopting a universal healthcare policy, shifting primary care tasks away from physicians and towards other qualified and more ubiquitous professionals, and investing in telemedicine, retail clinics, and a national electronic health record system.. A 'health in all policies' approach, which applies a health lens to legislation, needs to be applied in the context of health system strengthening for climate migration since countless environmental determinants of health and infrastructural decisions shape the vulnerability of communities.

Do climatic factors induce rural migration? Empirical evidence from cotton farmers in Benin

“…The existing literature on climate disturbances as a driver of rural migration has been discussed and analyzed. In line with the conclusion made in a systematic review entitled “Climate Migration and Health Systems Preparedness in the United States” (Sabasteanski, 2021), which states that disasters can cause supply chain disruptions, endanger assets, lead to service interruptions and thus increase climate migration, our results revealed that, in the commune of Banikoara, climatic disruptions, such as reduced rainfall frequency, early cessation of rains, the late start of rainy seasons, and consequently crop losses, reduced yields and precarious livelihoods among producers.…”

“…Climatic migration can be short‐ or long‐term and can occur within national borders or across borders (IOM, 2020; Sabasteanski, 2021). To take into account all these different modalities of environmental migration, we use three binary dependent variables: 1 if internal migration and 0 if not, 1 if external migration and 0 if not, 1 if medium or long‐term migration and 0 if not, 1 if short‐term migration and 0 if not.…”

“…Favorable socio‐economic conditions and the availability of state‐of‐the‐art infrastructure in host countries are also motivating factors for long‐term migrants. In the United States, health systems are one of the most important institutions impacting long‐term migration, and the strengths and weaknesses of these systems determine the levels of integration and wellbeing of migrants for many years to come (Milán‐García et al, 2021; Sabasteanski, 2021). Similarly, a study conducted in Benin reveals the influence of gender upon migration (Fourn & Kombieni, 2015).…”

A Systematic Literature Review of Water-Migration-Gender Nexus Toward Integrated Governance Strategies for (Non) Migrants

“…Specific suggestions included investment in technologic tools for supporting sustainable development of agriculture use and for increasing domestic water supply (e.g., water-intensive irrigation facilities, rainwater harvesting technologies, climate-smart agricultural options, enhancing access to water and sanitation) (Bellizzi et al, 2020;Ahmed et al, 2021;Rahman et al, 2021). Early warning systems and data acquisition based on reliable monitoring and surveillance systems to adapt or mitigate climate change effects (e.g., climatesensitive diseases) were among other suggestions (Marcantonio et al, 2019;Parsons and Chann, 2019;Prívara and Prívarová, 2019;Sy et al, 2020;Sabasteanski, 2021). Climate-related shocks and stresses impact women more than men since the abilities of men and women to adapt to climate change often differ (Quisumbing et al, 2017).…”

“…The fourth theme brought out health recommendations, which was the least mentioned theme regarding the watermigration-gender nexus. The included studies focus on climateinduced policy discussions on non-economic losses and damages of (im)mobile populations (e.g., sense of belonging, physical and mental health, or emotional wellbeing) (Ayeb-Karlsson et al, 2020) and training of health workers on water quality assessment and surveillance mechanisms for contagious disease control during and after natural disasters (Bellizzi et al, 2020;Sabasteanski, 2021), public health management (Nanekely et al, 2016) to advance regulatory capacity and mechanism about natural disasters and risk management, and to coordinate various sectors and organizations at the national and local levels (Nanekely et al, 2016;Ishiwatari et al, 2020). Again there was less attention paid to women's health concerning the watermigration-gender nexus (Ayeb-Karlsson et al, 2020;Bellizzi et al, 2020;Rao et al, 2020).…”