This community innovation has been accepted at the 2025 DHIS2 Annual Conference
Merging Climate Insights with Health Data
Given the gaps in health data, there is an opportunity to leverage climate modeling techniques with health indicators to identify imminent public health threats to communities and guide targeted interventions. According to the World Meteorological Organization State of Climate Services for Health report, however, only 23 percent of Ministries of Health (MOHs) are using climate data for health surveillance. This presentation will explore how integrating downscaled climate models with health indicators from Health Management Information Systems such as the DHIS2 can empower MOHs to better plan investments that enhance health system resilience. Climate models quantify the future of climate change and generate bespoke climate projections across various time horizons and geographies, from small towns to the entire globe. As a future oriented science, climate modeling can uniquely enhance the digital health landscape by offering forward looking insights that inform proactive and protective actions. Coupled with a robust understanding of climate hazards and their cascading impacts across sectors and regions, these models can quantify risks to health and health systems at a localized scale. Extreme heat linked to climate change, for example, poses significant cardiovascular and respiratory risks, particularly for vulnerable groups. By integrating these climate projections with localized health data, MOHs can better understand the potential health vulnerabilities due to climate change - offering another perspective on where and how to allocate resources to bolster health system resilience against these imminent public health threats.
Primary Author: Erin Kim
Keywords:
climate models, localized data, health indicators, vulnerability assessment, health systems
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