Guidance on the ECOnomiC evaluation of the Health Impacts of Climate Action/inaction (ECO-CHICA)
As part of meeting the Paris Climate Agreement’s net-zero targets, there is increasing interest in both how environmental economics value health co-benefits of adaptation and mitigation strategies, and how health economics capture and evaluate the environmental impacts of health technologies in Health Technology Assessments.
The ECO-CHICA project aims to meet this need by bringing together environmental economics and health economics methods. It will involve a consortium of researchers in multiple Centres (GHECO and CCPH) across LSHTM, the Office of Health Economics (OHE) in London, and Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change (CMCC) in Venice.
As the project involves engaging with a diverse set of stakeholders, we would like to invite anyone who is interested in becoming a stakeholder to sign up to our form. More information is also available in the ‘Get involved’ section below.
- ECO-CHICA: Objectives
The three core objectives of the project are to:
A. Review the research landscape of the economic evaluation involving the health impacts of climate action.
B. Collate and synthesise the available methods for the economic evaluation of health impacts of climate action and specify when, why and how best to use them. Produce an accessible guidance for researchers and policymakers to support them to commission and/or interpret the evidence effectively.
C. Explore ways to improve economic evaluation involving the health impacts of climate action, including comparability between methods and communication to policymakers. Produce an academic paper to advance best practice on economic evaluation involving the health impacts of climate action to provide clear research recommendations.
- ECO-CHICA: Project overview and timelines
Starting in October 2024, the project has an ambitious timeline of just one year to develop a set of accessible guidelines to bridge the divide between environmental economic evaluation involving health co-benefits and health economic evaluation involving environmental/sustainability concerns.
We plan to use a mix of literature review, stakeholder engagement and a modified Delphi Process to develop the guidance. A schematic of the project plan is given below.
- ECO-CHICA: Get involved
A key part of the project involves engagement with stakeholders representing diverse disciplines, geographies and sectors. If you are interested in getting involved, please sign up using the stakeholders sign up form below.
The form is open to all, but may specifically be of interest to:
- Researchers and research teams involved in evaluations of climate impacts on health, or undertaking Health Technology Assessments (HTA) with an interest in capturing the environmental consequences of interventions. This includes environmental and health economists, and researchers from other evaluative disciplines, whose expertise will play a key role informing the development of ECO-CHICA's guidance on economic evaluation of the health impacts of climate action.
- Policy makers and other evidence users including representatives from government entities, development partners and funders, interested in evidence on the health impacts of climate change and the health co-benefits of climate action, assessments of cost-effectiveness, and HTA-related outputs. Input from evidence users and decision makers will be vital to ensure that ECO-CHICA outputs are policy-relevant and fit-for-purpose.
The form below provides the opportunity for stakeholders to take part in the development of ECO-CHICA guidance and outputs, with the option to be actively involved (e.g. through workshops/Delphi panel) or to keep up to date with the latest developments from the project.
Economic evaluation and priority setting
- International Decision Support Initiative (iDSI)
The International Decision Support Initiative (iDSI) is a network of priority setting institutions that have, since 2013, supported the use of evidence in healthcare decision-making in low- and middle-income countries across the world.
- Feasibility of Novel Diagnostics for TB in Endemic Countries (FEND-TB)
The primary purpose of the FEND for TB Consortium is to evaluate early stage diagnostics and novel diagnostic strategies for tuberculosis in the context of existing clinical algorithms in TB endemic countries.
- Methods for addressing uncertainty around EQ-5D values
The Methods for addressing uncertainty around EQ-5D values project aims to provide a comprehensive account of the various sources of uncertainty affecting 'value sets’ for health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and identify implications for their use in generating evidence to inform decision making in health care.
Policy evaluation
- Innovative Management PRactices to Enhance hoSpital quality and Save lives in Malawi (IMPRESS)
Examining whether enhanced hospital management practices can drive improvements in newborn survival and the quality of clinical care in Malawi.
- PERsonalised Medicine for Intensification of Treatment (PERMIT)
Investigating the effectiveness of different treatments for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, to help choose the right treatments for patients.
- Impact of Calorie Labelling on Online Takeaway Food Choices: An Online Menu-Based Choice Experiment in England
Investigating whether displaying calories on restaurant and takeaway menus helps us make healthier choices.
Health financing
- The Lancet Global Health Commission on Financing for Primary Health Care
Published a Lancet report that developed evidence-led actions for financing primary healthcare in LMICs, which place people at the centre and address inequities first.
- EQUI-PMAQ
Unpacking the effect of the national pay for performance scheme on inequalities in the financing and delivery of primary care in Brazil.
- Countdown to 2030
Enabling better data use around financial resources to enable decision-making around resource allocation for reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health.
Economics of health systems and organisations
- Regulating e-pharmacy – challenges and opportunities for access and quality of care in LMIC health systems
This 3-year project funded by the UKRI Health Systems Research Initiative started in 2022 and aims to assess the performance of e-pharmacies in India and Kenya and analyse regulatory systems for improving medicine quality, safety and accessibility.
- NIHR Policy Research Unit in Health and Social Care Systems and Commissioning
The National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Policy Research Unit in Health and Social Care Systems and Commissioning, formerly PRUComm, studies how the NHS and social care services are organised in England, how decisions are made about what services to provide, how money is spent, and how oversight and accountability are operating.
Preferences, behaviour and outcomes
- UPTAKE
Understanding preferences and behaviours for long-acting HIV prevention methods using discrete choice experiments and behavioural laboratory experiments in Kenya and Uganda.
- INFUSION
Improving understanding of the functioning of rural food markets from a nutrition perspective, and to establish, test and deliver evidence for market interventions that improve the availability and affordability of nutrient-dense foods in India.
- High Horizons
Assessing the impact of mitigation and adaptation strategies for extreme heat on maternal health and wellbeing in Kenya, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
The macroeconomics of health
- COPPER: CO-designing for healthy People and Planet: food Economic policy Research
This project aims to explore the potential impacts of food taxes and subsidies on health, economics, and the environment in the UK. By co-designing scenarios with the public and policymakers and analysing them using an integrated health and macroeconomic model, the research will assess how these measures could affect chronic diseases and economic factors, and we will communicate our findings to all stakeholders.
Economics of infectious disease
- OpenPROMPT
Aiming to measure the impact of long COVID upon quality of life, and on costs to the NHS and the wider economy, in a cohort study of adults registered with UK GP practices.
- SHARP
Working in partnership across five institutions to conduct multi-disciplinary research in Ghana and Ethiopia to improve experiences of severe and stigmatising neglected tropical diseases of the skin.
COVID-19
We are a member of C19economics that collates health economic research on COVID-19 globally. A sample of our work on COVID-19 can be found here, for more, please visit the Centre for Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases and the Centre for Economic Policy Research.