Climate and Maternal and Child Health (CLIMACH) Interest Group

A research interest group that brings together researchers from across the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) with expertise in climate change and maternal and child health.

CLIMACH is a forum for collaboration which aims to: develop an environment for knowledge exchange, leverage research impacts across the School and support and maintain expertise in climate and maternal health research.

By building a collective base of knowledge and expertise, the group strives to accelerate research across LSHTM, and beyond, to tackle the urgent challenges of the climate crisis and make a difference in the health of women and children in a changing climate.

Find out more about the climate-related challenges impacting maternal health and the origin of the CLIMACH group.

Join CLIMACH

CLIMACH welcomes collaborations from diverse backgrounds and locations. The group aims to hold regular meetings to share and disseminate research and identify areas of collaboration.

Staff and students at LSHTM can become members of CLIMACH at any time. For all inquiries, please contact Group Coordinators, Professor Veronique Filippi and Dr Ana Bonell.

CLIMACH Projects

Members of the Climate and Maternal Health Interest Group are involved in the following projects:

CHAMNHA - Climate, Heat, and Maternal and Newborn Health in Africa

CHAMNHA is a four-year inter-disciplinary research project funded by the Belmont Forum that quantified the risks from heat on maternal and neonatal health outcomes, and developed interventions to reduce the impact of heat on maternal and newborn health and current climate risks. The consortium included research partners in the UK, Burkina Faso, Kenya, South Africa, Sweden, Norway, and the US.

CLIMACH Members: Dr Sari Kovats, Dr Cherie Part, Professor Veronique Filippi

Children Cities & Climate Action Lab (CCC)

The nexus of climate change, cities and child health is critical for the future of people and the planet. Children, Cities and Climate aims to address the interconnected challenges of averting climate breakdown; leveraging the central role of cities in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving human health; and analysing the child health co-benefits of improving the quality of urban environments.

CLIMACH Members: Dr Robert Hughes, Dr Ana Bonell

The CIDACS Climate and Environmental Platform (CIDACS-Clima): A data resource to study climate and health

As a large middle-income country with extraordinary geographic diversity and stark social inequalities, Brazil offers a unique living laboratory for identifying specific factors that may modify and mediate the impacts of climate change on health. Our primary aim is to integrate geo-referenced climatic data (e.g., temperature, hydrometeorological and remote sensing satellite-derived indicators) from Brazil in an accessible platform that can be integrated with the existing nationwide health and socioeconomic data linked in the 100 Million Brazilian Cohort (N=131,697,800 low-income individuals, 2001-2018) and the CIDACS Birth Cohort (N=28,631,390 maternal-child dyads, 2001-2018).

CLIMACH Members: Dr Enny Da Paixao Cruz, Maxine Pepper, Dr Cherie Part

Climate change, maternal health and birth outcomes: how does environmental heat affect pregnancy and birth outcomes in The Gambia

This Wellcome Funded project ran from 2019-2023 and explored the physiological changes in pregnant subsistence farmers in The Gambia. The acute impact of heat stress on maternal and fetal physiology was explored as well as ways in which women are currently adapting to climate change in this environment.

CLIMACH Members: Dr Ana Bonell

Establishing a research agenda on climate change and hygiene.

This project will develop a research agenda to address the implications of climate change for hygiene interventions, across all the dimensions of hygiene.

CLIMACH Members: Dr Lauren D’Mello-Guyett

Extreme temperatures and maternal and child health in Senegal: between resilience and action

The project aims to investigate and address the impacts of extreme temperatures on women and children in the Matam region in Senegal. It seeks to describe the spatial inequalities of extreme temperature and climate-sensitive diseases and understand the consequences, resilience, and adaptation processes in the community and in health centres. Additionally, the project will design, implement, and evaluate preventive health interventions specifically tailored for women and children to mitigate extreme temperature inequalities, as well as address underlying structural determinants contributing to these disparities. This project is funded by the Fondation pour la Recherche Medicale, will start in 2024 and is led by Professor Valery Ridde at CEPED in France, working together ISEG in Senegal, PRODIG in France and LSHTM.

CLIMACH Members: Professor Veronique Filippi, Dr Sari Kovats

GaHPS: Gambia Heat in Pregnancy Study

GaHPS seeks to describe the physiological, biochemical and structural changes that occur in pregnancy due to both acute and chronic heat stress exposure. This 4 year project began in June 2023 and is a partnership between the Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia, the University of Cambridge, UK and the University of Thessaly, Greece. The project is funded by the Wellcome Trust.

CLIMACH Members: Dr Ana Bonell, Dr Andrew Prentice, Dr Kris Murray, Dr Abdul Sesay, Dr Bubacarr Bah

HIGH Horizons

Heat Indicators for Global Health: this project quantifies and monitors direct and indirect health impacts of extreme heat, tests Early Warning Systems and implements integrated adaptation-mitigation actions in health facilities to reduce heat impacts in pregnant and postpartum women, infants, young children, and health workers in the EU and Africa.

The project includes eleven partners across ten countries in Europe and Africa.

CLIMACH Members: Professor Debra Jackson, Dr Isabelle Lange, Nasser Fardousi, Professor Veronique Filippi, Dr Giulia Greco, Giorgia Gon

Inclusive pathways towards climate-resilient WASH in Bangladesh

LSHTM is leading a collaborative study with icddr,b and World Vision in Bangladesh to strengthen evidence about how climate hazards affect the mental health and wellbeing of women and men with disabilities through risks to water, sanitation and hygiene services and co-develop principles for climate resilient inclusive WASH interventions in Bangladesh. The study applies a gender lens in all analyses. It is funded by the Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Water for Women Fund.

CLIMACH Members: Dr Jane Wilbur

REACH: Building resilience to floods and heat in the maternal and child health system in Brazil and Zambia.

REACH is a four-year inter-disciplinary research project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) that will quantify the risks from heat and flooding on health systems in Zambia and Brazil to improve health system resilience for maternal and child health. The consortium includes research partners in Zambia, Brazil, the UK, Sweden, and Austria. REACH includes research streams that will quantify the impacts on health services and economic modelling to estimate the benefit of adaptation measures.

CLIMACH Members: Professor Josephine Borghi, Dr Cherie Part, Dr Sari Kovats