Health Impacts of Climate Change in Pacific Island Countries: A Regional Assessment of Vulnerabilities and Adaptation Priorities

“Introduction Climate change is widely acknowledged to be one of the most serious global threats to future human population health and international development (Costello et al. 2009; Stephenson et al. 2013; Woodward et al. 2014).”

“A number of climate-sensitive health risks may be considered to cut across categories: for example, there may be direct mental health consequences of extreme weather events; NCDs may be affected indirectly through disruption of food supplies, or more diffusely through socio-political strategies related to climate chan…”

“These aspects include high fertility rates and overcrowding in atoll nations such as Kiribati which, combined with limited land area, low elevation, and the threat posed by rising seas, may lead to forced relocation, which brings with it a particular suite of health complications (McMichael et al. 2012; Berry et al. 2…”

“There is some evidence that this forced migration—both internal and external—is already taking place (Birk and Rasmussen 2014; Locke 2009), and the physical and psychosocial health consequences of this phenomenon must not be underestimated (Butler et al. 2014; Reuveny 2007).”

“Thus, the theoretical requirement for “additionality” mentioned in the international climate change and health literature with respect to adaptation (Füssel 2007) was considered significantly less important for health systems support in the Pacific than pragmatic, realistic measures that would both…”

“Environmental Health Perspectives • volume 124 | number 11 | November 2016 1707 ResearchA Section 508–conformant HTML version of this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1509756.”

“A changing climate has significant and diverse impacts on human health (McMichael and Lindgren 2011; Woodward et al. 2014).”

“These aspects include high fertility rates and overcrowding in atoll nations such as Kiribati which, combined with limited land area, low elevation, and the threat posed by rising seas, may lead to forced relocation, which brings with it a particular suite of health complications (McMichael et al. 2012; Berry et al. 2…”

“Introduction Climate change is widely acknowledged to be one of the most serious global threats to future human population health and international development (Costello et al. 2009; Stephenson et al. 2013; Woodward et al. 2014).”

“…on climate change and NCDs is relatively scant and has hitherto focused primarily on the implications of heat for individuals with preexisting NCDs (Friel et al. 2011; Kjellstrom and McMichael 2013; Kovats and Hajat 2008; Shubair et al. 2013), in the Pacific region, there is a very real concern…”

“…events such as cyclones), secondary or indirect effects (e.g., the increasing geographic range of, and population exposed to, vectors that spread disease), and tertiary, diffuse, and/ or delayed effects (e.g., disruptions to health and social services) (Butler and Harley 2010; McMichael 2013).”

“It must also be acknowledged that PICs are very likely to be among the first communities to be forced to relocate because of anthropogenic climate change (Campbell 2014).”

“There is thus a clear and relatively urgent need for these and other hazards (such as the health effects of heat and extreme weather events) to be considered in the context of climate change in the Pacific and to be anticipated accordingly (Haines et al. 2014).”

“There is some evidence that this forced migration—both internal and external—is already taking place (Birk and Rasmussen 2014; Locke 2009), and the physical and psychosocial health consequences of this phenomenon must not be underestimated (Butler et al. 2014; Reuveny 2007).”

“There is some indication, however faint, that it may yet prove somewhat easier to achieve coherence in climate change and health governance in relatively cohesive Pacific island communities with shared traditional values, than in other countries at varying levels of development but with looser or weaker social capital…”

“The climate change and health vulnerability assessment and adaptation planning project in the Pacific is similar in some respects to the corresponding work being carried out in other regions (Brooks and Adger 2003; Confalonieri et al. 2009; Wolf et al. 2014).”

“The sophistication of the modeling undertaken ranged from simple reviews of disease burdens and weather patterns in Kiribati (McIver et al. 2014) to Poisson regression models in FSM (McIver et al. 2015a) and similar techniques, combined with spatial modeling, for multiple climate-sensitive diseases…”

“The Madang Commitment included further recommendations related to vulnerability assessments and adaptation planning, framing these within the Healthy Islands vision for health systems development in the Pacific (Galea et al. 2000; WHO 2009).”

“One of the most promising areas of potential benefit, from both an economic and a social perspective, lies in co-benefits— the health gains anticipated from action on climate change mitigation—which are most pertinent in relation to NCDs (Ganten et al. 2010).”

“Introduction Climate change is widely acknowledged to be one of the most serious global threats to future human population health and international development (Costello et al. 2009; Stephenson et al. 2013; Woodward et al. 2014).”

“Its use was based on precedents in Australia (Brown et al. 2014) and growing evidence of its utility in this context in Pacific island countries such as Vanuatu”

“The sophistication of the modeling undertaken ranged from simple reviews of disease burdens and weather patterns in Kiribati (McIver et al. 2014) to Poisson regression models in FSM (McIver et al. 2015a) and similar techniques, combined with spatial modeling, for multiple climate-sensitive diseases in Fiji (McIver et…”

“The climate change and health vulnerability assessment and adaptation planning project in the Pacific is similar in some respects to the corresponding work being carried out in other regions (Brooks and Adger 2003; Confalonieri et al. 2009; Wolf et al. 2014).”

“Recognizing the risks to health posed by climate change, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Offices for the Western Pacific and South-East Asia issued a joint Regional Framework for Action to Protect Human Health from the Effects of Climate Change in the Asia-Pacific Region (WHO 2007; Hanna and McIver 2014)…”

“Between 2010 and 2012, the WHO Division of Pacific Technical Support, with support from the Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO) and funding from the governments of the Republic of Korea and Japan, led a regional climate change and health vulnerability and adaptation project involving 11 PICs: Cook Islands, Federate…”

“Finally, recognizing that PICs are among many countries in the world battling climate change as one of a number of significant impediments to social, economic, and health development, WHO is in the process of providing detailed guidance, in the form of frameworks, to assist member states in scaling up essential public…”

“These included highly focused, largely quantitative assessments in the Marshall Islands and FSM, as distinct from a more deliberative, qualitative process employed in Nauru, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu, where a modified environmental health impact assessment approach was employed (Spickett and Katscherian 2014; Spick…”

“Mental health was identified as a high-priority climate-sensitive health risk in eight out of the 13 countries [99].”

“relating to mental health issues such as population pressures and health system deficiencies [17].”

“Many of the risk factors and environmental drivers identified in our study provide significant cause for concern about future risk of leptospirosis in Fiji, as well as other Pacific Islands with similar environments.”