Developing health-related climate indicators: a case study of South Australia

Abstract

Australia has experienced, and is projected to experience, a range of direct and indirect climate change-related health impacts. Extreme weather events have been associated with substantial increases in morbidity and mortality, as exemplified by the Victorian bushfires in 2009 and the Queensland floods in 2011. Moreover, significant epidemiological evidence of increases in morbidity and mortality during heatwaves has emerged in Australia. Although the primary public health problem is extreme weather-related morbidity and mortality, a secondary public health problem is that there are limited tools to track the health impacts of climate change and to develop public health interventions in a timely manner. In particular, climate-sensitive health indicators are needed by public health planners and policymakers in order to mitigate the effects for vulnerable subpopulations. This issue has recently been raised at a global level by the Lancet Countdown, an international collaboration aiming to develop and report on a series of health indicators of climate change. Gap analysis A scoping review of the literature in the area of climate-sensitive health indicators, together with preliminary consultations with stakeholders in public health agencies, identified three major gaps. Firstly, although climate-related impacts put significant pressure on the health sector, climate-related health indicators are generally not used as part of routine Australian health evaluation. In contrast, some such indicators have been developed in other countries and are currently used by the European Environmental Agency. Secondly, due to differences in climate characteristics and demographics, there is a need to identify a set of evidence-based climate-sensitive health indicators specifically for use in Australia. Finally, the feasibility and usability of such indicators in an Australian context should be investigated.