ICS Estudos e Relatórios Nº1 / 2019

ICS E S T U D O S e R E L A T Ó R I O S 2019 climate-sensitive diseases, vulnerable populations, the excess burden of disease, regional discrepancy, and above all, adaptive mechanism. The risk of infectious diseases, chronic non-infectious diseases, and heat-related diseases has significantly increased due to climate change and will increase substantially under different climate scenarios. We also found out that ageing, socio-economic factors, and interactions among various eco-environmental factors would amplify the impacts. However, these impacts can be moderated through proper adaptation. From these findings, we realized the significant challenges we faced are non- communicable disease burden, emerging infectious disease, ageing population, rising health expenditure, health inequity. On the other hand, GHG mitigation brings distinct health co-benefits, which is a unique opportunity that we could seize. A study funded by China Prosperity Strategic Program took advantage of a systematic review, questionnaire survey, focus group discussion, qualitative and quantitative analysis, and finally summarized the significant gaps as follows.  The complexity of urban health inadequately comprehended and piecemeal actions  Primarily top-down approaches and insufficient participation  Insufficient intersectoral collaboration  Need more actions to improve health equity  Inadequate knowledge about health risks and health co-benefits of low carbon transition In conclusion, we should take the Healthy City program as the way forward, which takes a systems approach for managing urban health against climate change. In this way, we could get the whole government and the entire society involved in and address the environmental and social determinants of urban health. Besides, it is necessary to create favourable political and socioeconomic conditions and be supported by advancements in science and technology. More specifically, we should implement systems science for urban health and well-being under climate change. Successful multidisciplinary platforms and multisectoral partnerships will allow us to research for a better understanding of the complex urban environment-health relationship and provide sustainable, integrated adaptive and mitigation strategies to minimize the adverse effects of climate change.