• Environmental and climate change
• Health and sanitation
• Theories of Development
• Environmental Impact Analysis
• Migration, mobility and urbanization
• Health

• Burkina Faso
• Ghana
• Uganda
• Nepal

Environment, Climate Change and Health, Environmental Impact Assessment, Health Impact Assessment

Katholischer Akademischer Ausländerdienst (KAAD)

German-West African Centre for Global Health and Pandemic Prevention (G-WAC) and KNUST

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)

Health systems resilience to climate variability and waterborne-disease burden in the Black Volta Basin in Ghana

Extreme weather events pose a significant threat to human health and can place a strain on the capacity of health systems to function and provide health services. With these persistent health problems, the emergence of climate-related health risks can exacerbate current rates of disease incidence and prevalence and pose severe threats to public health and healthcare delivery in developing countries such as Ghana. Developing countries, including Ghana, are more vulnerable to threats of climate change and climate variability, which add to waterborne disease risks due to poor sanitation and sewerage systems, inappropriate water management, lack of health-care facilities, and social and environmental factors. Among bacterial pathogens, E. coli, Salmonella, Shigella, Cryptosporidium, and Campylobacter are the main causative agents of waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea, hepatitis, cholera, typhoid, malaria, salmonellosis, dysentery, schistosomiasis, and giardiasis, all of which are becoming more frequent.

To address climate change's influence on water-borne illnesses in humans, it's vital to address existing vulnerabilities, knowledge gaps, wrong perceptions and invest in strengthening health workers and communities’ capacities to cope with catastrophic climatic calamities. The study will propose policy options and actions to reduce future health threats from outbreaks of waterborne diseases through the development and integration of mitigation and adaptation measures into national policies, including health, water infrastructure development that assures potable water quality control, improved medical intervention, and the development of process-based models for risk reduction, improved early warning systems, detection, mitigation and recovery.

The study uses a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods - cross-sectional surveys, focused group discussions, and in-depth expert interviews. An extensive literature review is conducted using meta-analysis (PRISMA) to identify community-based health interventions, knowledge and perception gaps among health workers and community members on climate and health nexus and propose appropriate capacity needs.

Prof. Dr. med. Walter Bruchhausen - Principal Supervisor

Prof. Dr. Christian Borgemeister - Second Supervisor

Prof. Dr. med. Nico T. Mutters - Third Supervisor

Prof. Dr. med. Thomas Kistemann - Forth Supervisor 

Dr. Jan Henning Sommer