Health officials’ perceptions of and preparedness for the impacts of climate variability on human health in the Somali region of Ethiopia

Abstract

Perception, Preparedness, Health professionals, Climate variability, Flood,

Knowledge and perceptions about the health impact of climate change among health sciences students in Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

“…This study found that while slightly more than half (52.3%) of the students stated that climate change could have an impact on human health the remaining students either did not make this association or were uncertain. This finding differs from a study in the Somali Region of Ethiopia, where 80.1% of the local health officials were aware of the role of climate change in human health [ 19 ]. These differences may be due to the fact that Somali Region is highly prone to climate change and climate variability [ 30 ], where health officials may thus be highly aware of this problem.…”

“…This finding differs from a study in the Somali Region of Ethiopia, where 80.1% of the local health officials were aware of the role of climate change in human health [19]. These differences may be due to the fact that Somali Region is highly prone to climate change and climate variability [30], where health officials may thus be highly aware of this problem.…”

“…The majority of the students identified flooding as the main climate change impact, followed by increasing temperatures and drought. Similarly, a study by Abaya et al [ 19 ] of Ethiopian health officials in Somali Region indicated that flooding is one of the major climate change impacts. Flooding has a direct impact on human health, causing injuries and death during flooding.…”

“…Despite many publications on the preparedness and assessment of knowledge and perception of climate change and health impacts among local health officers [ 19 - 21 ], previous studies failed to examine the knowledge and perception of health sciences students on climate change related health impacts. The objective of this study is to assess the knowledge and perceptions of health sciences students of Haramaya University in Ethiopia regarding the impact of climate change on human health.…”

Relating historical vegetation cover to aridity index patterns in the greater desert region of northern China: Implications to planned and existing restoration projects

“…In recent decades, countless studies have demonstrated the indisputable fact of climate change (IPCC, 2013) and its impacts on water resources (Raghavan et al, 2012;Deng et al, 2015;Pumo et al, 2016), ecological environment (Chen et al, 2013;Yang et al, 2015), human settlement (Dumenu and Obeng, 2016), and human health (Wu et al, 2016;Moore et al, 2008;Abaya et al, 2011). Continued global climate change in desert regions of the world may have a profound impact by accelerating hydrological processes and increasing the unpredictability of related hydrometeorological variables (Gan, 2000;Ma et al, 2004;Jentsch and Beierkuhnlein, 2008), leading to a re-shaping of desert-dryness patterns.…”