Background & Rationale

The understanding of the intersection of climate change and public health is increasingly urgent across Africa. With rising temperatures, shifting weather patterns, and recurring extreme events, populations are facing new and intensified health risks. These include vector-borne diseases, undernutrition, mental health deterioration, and systemic pressure on health infrastructure. To respond, there is an urgent need for cross-disciplinary knowledge sharing, innovative methods, and harmonized data frameworks for climate-health statistics. Inspired by international frameworks such as the WHO Operational Framework for Building Climate-Resilient Health Systems, the Standards for Official Statistics on Climate Health Interactions (SOSCHI) and more recently the Belem Health Action Plan (BHAP) at COP30, CCPOP-Ghana2025 offers a continental platform to explore solutions, policy-oriented science, and public health resilience issues amidst challenges posed by climate change to the health of human population.

Goals and Objectives

Goal:

To catalyze research and policy dialogue on climate change’s impact on human health in Africa, advancing interdisciplinary approaches and robust frameworks for exposure-risk-outcome modelling.

Objectives:

• To scale the understanding of the impact of climate variability on health systems, disease patterns, and vulnerable populations across Africa.

• To foster the development and dissemination of climate-health exposure and vulnerability metrics applicable to African contexts.

• To promote uptake of standardized statistical methodologies aligned with global initiatives (e.g., UNGP, Sendai Framework).

• To explore evidence-informed policies for climate adaptation and public health planning.

• To convene researchers, data scientists, policymakers, public health professionals, and civil society in cross-sectoral dialogue.

Sessional Topics for Scientific Presentations

Submissions are invited across the following themes:

1. Climate-Driven Health Outcomes:

   • Injury & mortality from extreme weather (e.g., floods, droughts, wildfires)

   • Heat and cold-related illnesses

   • Vector- and water-borne diseases (e.g., malaria, cholera)

   • Zoonoses and antimicrobial resistance

   • Airborne and respiratory illnesses (e.g., meningitis, pollution)
      

2. Health Systems & Infrastructure:

   • Disruption of health services due to climate impacts

   • Climate-resilient health infrastructure design

   • Emergency preparedness and climate health response systems
      

3. Data, Methods & Modelling:

   • Statistical frameworks for climate-health interactions

   • Big data and geospatial approaches to vulnerability mapping

   • Attribution science: estimating climate-related health impacts

   • Applied artificial intelligence and machine learning
      

4. Nutrition, Livelihoods & Food Security:

   • Malnutrition, undernutrition and food-borne diseases

   • Agricultural vulnerability and health outcomes
      

5. Mental Health & Psychosocial Well-being:

   • Climate migration, displacement, and trauma

   • Inequities in mental health care during climate crises
      

6. Policy, Adaptation & Community Resilience:

   • Indigenous knowledge and local adaptation strategies

   • Climate governance and health justice in Africa

   • Financing climate-health interventions