Addressing Climate Changed-Linked Impacts through Mapping And Tools for Epidemiological Surveillance
Funded by: The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC)
Access the ACCLIMATES website here
Project Overview
The Addressing Climate Changed-Linked Impacts through Mapping And Tools for Epidemiological Surveillance, or ACCLIMATES, study aims to enhance knowledge of and capacity for public health surveillance related to climate change, air pollution, and chronic disease. This project is built upon pilot work conducted in Edmonton, Alberta, and uses advanced epidemiological and geographic methods to create and validate vulnerability and risk-based surveillance tools to better understand how climate change and air pollution impact the health of older adults (aged 65+), immigrants, pregnant women, children and infants, and rural populations in Alberta.
Guiding Frameworks
Our work is guided by frameworks proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. To our knowledge, ACCLIMATES is among the first to employ both vulnerability and risk (right) based approaches in the development of our climate-health surveillance tools
Vulnerability Index - This framework utilizes several data sources (e.g., environmental, census, and health datasets) to generate a comprehensive picture of climate change-related chronic disease vulnerability within whole populations. Vulnerability indices and constructed using the domains of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. Exposure refers to contact with different factors (e.g., heat waves, high solar UV radiation, extreme weather events) that can affect populations. Sensitivity refers to characteristics that can increase individual's’ risk of experience adverse exposure-related health outcomes. Adaptive capacity is the ability of individuals, communities, and institutions to adjust and mitigate adverse impacts of certain exposures and sensitivities (e.g., access to air conditioning or greenspace during a heatwave).
Risk Index - The risk-based index is a more recent framework released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which considers dimensions of hazards and exposure in addition to vulnerability. Risk indices are also generated by considering important factors related to climate-health impacts, natural versus anthropogenic (i.e., human-driven) climate change, and various socioeconomic process and local, regional, national, and global levels.
Objective 1:
Conduct focus groups discussions and interviews with stakeholders throughout the province to better understand climate-change and air pollution-related awareness, concerns, and needs among our populations of interest
Objective 2:
Investigate temporal, multilevel, and spatial quantitative associations between exposure/sensitivity/adaptive capacity variables and various health indicators (cardiac, cerebrovascular, respiratory, renal, perinatal, mental health, dementia)
Objective 3:
Compile information on perceived climate change vulnerability through group discussions, interviews, and surveys conducted with members of our communities of interest
Objective 4:
Develop vulnerability and risk indices using the results and weighting generated in objectives 1, 2, and 3
Objective 5:
Create, validate, and pilot test an online surveillance mapping tool and dashboard to provide a geographic representation of the vulnerability and risk indices
Objective 6:
Host an interactive workshop with stakeholders and knowledge users to test the online surveillance tool and dashboard to solicit feedback and disseminate findings
Project Objectives
Why Is This Project Important?
While climate change and air pollution have been linked to many adverse health outcomes among the general population, certain population might experience heightened health risks and socioeconomic vulnerability. In particular, older adults, immigrants, pregnant women, children and infants, and rural populations could be more susceptible and less able to adapt to the negative impacts of climate change and air pollution. By focusing on these specific populations, we are aiming to identify their unique climate health experiences and needs in order to better inform public health policy and action.
Surveillance plays a key role in understanding and response to the health challenges experiences by different groups and populations. However, traditional surveillance methodologies are often limited in the information they are able to collect, especially for certain understudied or underrepresented groups. For example, a system that relies on passive surveillance will likely miss large proportions of certain populations (e.g., new immigrants) that may not have access to health facilities. By building vulnerability and risk-based surveillance tools by using several data sources, we are aiming to gain a more comprehensive and complete picture of climate change-related disease vulnerability and risk in the whole population.
The surveillance tools developed by this project will support clinicians, public health officers, and health-services decision makers in better understand the health risks posed by climate change and air pollution, and will help with the prioritization of risk and proactive adaption measures across the province. They will also assist with municipal planning and other environmental and emergency response actions and logistics. Finally, our surveillance approach will align with other regional and provincial climate health surveillance initiatives taking place across the country, thus contributing to enhancing climate health surveillance capacity and resources Canada-wide.
What Will Come Out Of the ACCLIMATES Project?
Pilot-tested, validated, interactive, updatable, accessible, and population-specific vulnerability and risk-based online surveillance mapping tools and dashboards linking climate change, air pollution, and health
Workshops, newsletter, infographics, reports, and other materials aimed at stakeholders, members of our target populations, and the general public
Reports and evidence briefs intended for policymakers, decision makers, and health professional and organizations
Research manuscripts and academic conference presentations
*Please be aware that the surveillance tools are estimates only and may not reflect differences within neighbourhoods. The maps are not intended to stigmatize neighbourhoods, only to provide an indication of the relative differences across the city.