Climate-related health impact indicators for public health surveillance in a changing climate: a systematic review and local suitability analysis

Abstract

Summary: Climate change challenges public health. Effective management of climate-related health risks relies on robust public health surveillance (PHS) and population health indicators. Despite existing global and country-specific indicators, their integration into local PHS systems is limited, impacting decision-making. We conducted a systematic review examining population health indicators relevant to climate change impacts and their suitability for national PHS systems. Guided by a registered protocol, we searched multiple databases and included 41 articles. Of these, 35 reported morbidity indicators, and 39 reported mortality indicators. Using Chile as a case study, we identified three sets of indicators for the Chilean PHS. The high-priority set included vector-, food-, and water-borne diseases, as well as temperature-related health outcomes indicators due to their easy integration into existing PHS systems. This review highlights the importance of population health indicators in monitoring climate-related health impacts, emphasising the need for local contextual factors to guide indicator selection. Funding: This research project was partly funded by ANID Chile and University College London. None of these sources had any involvement in the research conceptualisation, design, or interpretation of the results.

Keywords

• Climate change
• Population health
• Surveillance
• Indicators
• Health impacts