Editing IPCC:AR6/WGII/Chapter-12 (section)

==== 12.7.2.6 Health and Well-being ====

<div id="h3-74-siblings" class="h3-siblings"></div>

There is a growing body of evidence that climate variability and climate change (CVC) cause harm to human health in CSA. However, there is a lack of information about the current and future projected impacts of CVC events on overall illness and death in this region. It is challenging to attribute specific health outcomes to CVC in models and field experiments due to multiple factors, including the following:

* lack of long-term, high-quality health surveillance data
* multiple interacting infectious disease and chronic health issues
* mismatch in the spatial and temporal scales of CVC and health measurements
* complex climate and human system dynamics, including non-linear time lags
* limited longitudinal data on non-climate factors that influence health outcomes (e.g., public health interventions, migration of human populations, seasonal patterns in livelihoods).

The uncertainty inherent in predictive models also makes it challenging to expand current localised knowledge on the impacts of infectious diseases associated with CVC to other regions or future climate scenarios ( [[#UNEP--2018|UNEP, 2018]] ).

Improved risk assessments based on better models and empirical research are needed to bridge the knowledge gap and inform the design of adaptation strategies. A systematic multi-scalar analysis of the impact of CVC on human health is needed across distinct social-ecological contexts. Data collection systems need to be strengthened to accurately estimate the burden of mortality and morbidity from heat and extreme events. The data deficit is a common problem in functioning civil registration and vital statistics systems, including lack of information on causes of death ( [[#UNEP--2018|UNEP, 2018]] ). In addition, there is a lack of consensus on globally accepted and operational definitions for both climate-related extremes and exposures/outcomes.

For infectious disease (vector-borne and water-borne), the technology available to estimate current and future risk areas is often limited by human or financial resource constraints in developing countries. There is a geographical mismatch between the areas producing the technology and knowledge (in the global north) and the areas most affected by CVC (in the global south). User-friendly tools that bring together climate and health information—without the need for modelling or GIS expertise—are needed for health sector decision makers.

There is a lack of studies that assess the feasibility of health adaptation measures ( [[#12.5.10|Section 12.5.10]] ), thereby limiting the ability of decision makers to compare different health interventions and identify bottlenecks for implementation. The growing field of implementation science could help to address barriers to mainstreaming climate information in the health sector as an adaptation strategy.

Finally, there is an almost complete absence of studies that address relationships of climate change with well-being in CSA, broadly understood as including emotions and moods, satisfaction with life, sense of meaning and positive functioning, including the capacity for unimpaired cognitive functioning and economic productivity ( [[IPCC:Wg2:Chapter:Chapter-7#7.1.4|Section 7.1.4.1]] ).

<div id="12.7.2.7" class="h3-container"></div>

<span id="poverty-livelihood-and-sustainable-development-1"></span>