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Climate impacts on health

About the collection

New Content ItemClimate change is a significant threat to global and human health, affecting both mental and physical health, and to the function of health systems, particularly in low-income and disadvantaged communities which are contributing least to its causes. Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year, from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea and heat stress and it is likely to have substantial, long term impacts on human health and productivity. 

New Content ItemIn support of tackling the urgent climate change crisis and SDG13 (Climate Action), BMC Public Health has launched this collection which welcomes submissions addressing:

  • The health effects of extreme weather events
  • The impact of climate change on infectious disease risks
  • The impact of climate change on non-communicable diseases
  • The impact of climate change on marginalized communities
  • The threats of climate change to mental health
  • Climate change and social justice
  • Climate change and global health equity
  • Climate change, gender and health
  • The health benefits of climate change policy
  • Climate resilient efforts to reduce adverse impacts

We welcome submissions from all geographic regions. We also welcome a range of appropriate methodological approaches including quantitative, qualitative, and systematic reviews. Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process overseen by our Guest Editors, Dr Meghnath Dhimal (Nepal Health Research Council), Dr Ramesh Dhiman (ICMR, India) and Dr Shengzhi Sun (Boston University).

Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure you have carefully read the submission guidelines for BMC Public Health. Articles submitted to this collection will be published immediately following completion of peer-review and editorial acceptance.

Articles submitted after 7th April 2023 will not be eligible for inclusion in the collection.

Meet the Guest Editors

Meghnath Dhimal 

Meghnath New Content ItemDhimal works as a Chief/Senior Research Officer at Nepal Health Research Council (NHRC), Kathmandu, Nepal and his primary research interests include the health effects of environmental risk factors, the health effects of climate change and adaptation measures. He has authored more than 200 publications on change and health, environmental health, global health and global burden of disease.


Ramesh Dhiman

Dr. Ramesh Dhiman is ForNew Content Itemmer Scientist ‘G’ and Sr Consultant, ICMR- National Institute of Malaria Research, New Delhi and is a vector biologist with inclination towards epidemiology. His areas of interest are climate change and vector-borne diseases, early warning of outbreaks and ecological change detection through satellite data. Dr Dhiman has published over 120 research papers and contributed to PM’s Council of experts on Climate Change in 2008.

Shengzhi Sun

Shengzhi SunNew Content Item is a Professor in the School of Public Health at the Capital Medical University. His research interests focus on estimating the impacts of climate change and air pollution on human health across the life course, especially for susceptible populations, such as children, pregnant women, and the elderly. He serves on the editorial boards of BMC Medicine and BMC Public Health and has published over 60 peer-review articles.

  1. It is widely known that the incidence rate and short-term mortality of acute myocardial infarctions (AMIs) are generally higher during the winter months. The goal of this study was to determine how the tempera...

    Authors: Hao Miao, Wei Bao, Peian Lou, Peipei Chen, Pan Zhang, Guiqiu Chang, Xiaoqin Hu, Xinliang Zhao, Shuo Huang, Yu Yang, Zhirong Wang, Minglong Chen and Chengzong Li
    Citation: BMC Public Health 2024 24:2645
    Content type: Research Published on:

  3. Although studies have indicated that extreme temperature is strongly associated with respiratory diseases, there is a dearth of studies focused on children, especially in China. We aimed to explore the associa...

    Authors: Ya Wu, Xiaobo Liu, Lijie Gao, Xiaohong Sun, Qianqi Hong, Qian Wang, Zhen Kang, Chao Yang and Sui Zhu
    Citation: BMC Public Health 2024 24:341
    Content type: Research Published on:

  4. There is a paucity of resources focusing on the climate change experience of readymade garment (RMG) workers in developing countries such as Bangladesh. Therefore, this mixed method approach aims to understand...

    Authors: Mohammad Hayatun Nabi, Mehedi Hasan, Anika Tasneem Chowdhury, Farah Naz and Mosharop Hossian
    Citation: BMC Public Health 2023 23:2292
    Content type: Research Published on:

  5. Recently, attention has focused on the impact of global climate change on infectious diseases. Storm flooding is an extreme weather phenomenon that not only impacts the health of the environment but also worse...

    Authors: Piao-yi Luo, Meng-xiang Chen, Wen-tao Kuang, Han Ni, Jin Zhao, Hao-yun Dai, Xiang Ren, Shang-hui Yi, Xiu-qin Hong, Wen-ting Zha and Yuan Lv
    Citation: BMC Public Health 2023 23:1874
    Content type: Research Published on:

  6. Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) is a rodent-borne zoonosis in the Americas, with up to 50% mortality rates. In Argentina, the Northwestern endemic area presents half of the annually notified HPS cases in t...

    Authors: Walter R. López, Mariano Altamiranda-Saavedra, Sebastián D. Kehl, Ignacio Ferro, Carla Bellomo, Valeria P. Martínez, Mario I. Simoy and José F. Gil
    Citation: BMC Public Health 2023 23:1236
    Content type: Research Published on:

  7. To evaluate the impact of Hurricanes Irma/Maria on diabetes incidence in Puerto Rico. Mortality increased substantially after the hurricanes, but morbidity was not assessed.

    Authors: Marijulie Martínez-Lozano, Carlamarie Noboa, Gerardo Alvarado-González and Kaumudi J. Joshipura
    Citation: BMC Public Health 2023 23:1019
    Content type: Research Published on:

  8. People with HIV (PWH) are disproportionately vulnerable to the impacts of wildfires, given the need for frequent access to healthcare systems, higher burden of comorbidities, higher food insecurity, mental and...

    Authors: Parya Saberi, Kristin Ming, Emily A. Arnold, Anna M. Leddy and Sheri D. Weiser
    Citation: BMC Public Health 2023 23:950
    Content type: Research Published on:

  9. Climate change poses a global health risk through consequences such as sea level rise, wildfires, and increased air pollution. Children born today and in the future may be disproportionately affected by climat...

    Authors: Danielle M. Smith, Javier Sales, Aleyah Williams and Sarah Munro
    Citation: BMC Public Health 2023 23:766
    Content type: Research Published on:

  10. Cold winter weather increases the risk of stroke, but the evidence is scarce on whether the risk increases during season-specific cold weather in the other seasons. The objective of our study was to test the h...

    Authors: Vidmantas Vaičiulis, Jouni J. K. Jaakkola, Ričardas Radišauskas, Abdonas Tamošiūnas, Dalia Lukšienė and Niilo R. I. Ryti
    Citation: BMC Public Health 2023 23:554
    Content type: Research Published on:

  11. Residents of informal settlements in Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) are vulnerable to the health impacts of climate change. Little is known about the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of inhabitants of informa...

    Authors: Johanne Greibe Andersen, Per Kallestrup, Catherine Karekezi, Gerald Yonga and Christian Kraef
    Citation: BMC Public Health 2023 23:393
    Content type: Research Published on:

  12. With the increasing severity of the malignant tumors situation worldwide, the impacts of climate on them are receiving increasing attention. In this study, for the first time, all-malignant tumors were used as...

    Authors: Zhipeng Pan, Lingxiang Yu, Ming Shao, Yubo Ma, Yuting Cheng, Ye Wu, Shanshan Xu, Congjun Zhang, Jiansheng Zhu, Faming Pan and Guoping Sun
    Citation: BMC Public Health 2023 23:346
    Content type: Research Published on:

  13. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), the leading cause of death worldwide, are sensitive to temperature. In light of the reported climate change trends, it is important to understand the burden of CVDs attributable...

    Authors: Shreya S. Shrikhande, Hugo Pedder, Martin Röösli, Mohamed Aqiel Dalvie, Ravivarman Lakshmanasamy, Antonio Gasparrini, Jürg Utzinger and Guéladio Cissé
    Citation: BMC Public Health 2023 23:291
    Content type: Research Published on:

    The Correction to this article has been published in BMC Public Health 2024 24:2595

  14. With complex changes in the global climate, it is critical to understand how ambient temperature affects health, especially in China. We aimed to assess the effects of temperature on daily mortality, including...

    Authors: Yizhang Xia, Chunli Shi, Yang Li, Xianyan Jiang, Shijuan Ruan, Xufang Gao, Yu Chen, Wei Huang, Mingjiang Li, Rong Xue, Xianying Wen, Xiaojuan Peng, Jianyu Chen and Li Zhang
    Citation: BMC Public Health 2023 23:149
    Content type: Research Published on:

  15. As the climate continues to warm, hurricanes will continue to increase in both severity and frequency. Hurricane damage is associated with cardiovascular events, but social capital may moderate this relationsh...

    Authors: Zachary H. McCann and Magdalena Szaflarski
    Citation: BMC Public Health 2023 23:60
    Content type: Research Published on:

  16. Influenza epidemics pose a threat to human health. It has been reported that meteorological factors (MFs) are associated with influenza. This study aimed to explore the similarities and differences between the...

    Authors: Hansong Zhu, Si Chen, Wen Lu, Kaizhi Chen, Yulin Feng, Zhonghang Xie, Zhifang Zhang, Lingfang Li, Jianming Ou and Guangmin Chen
    Citation: BMC Public Health 2022 22:2335
    Content type: Research Published on:

    The Correction to this article has been published in BMC Public Health 2023 23:269

  17. Farmworkers are at risk of heat-related illness (HRI). We sought to: 1) evaluate the effectiveness of farmworker Spanish/English participatory heat education and a supervisor decision-support mobile applicatio...

    Authors: Erica Chavez Santos, June T. Spector, Jared Egbert, Jennifer Krenz, Paul D. Sampson, Pablo Palmández, Elizabeth Torres, Maria Blancas, Jose Carmona, Jihoon Jung and John C. Flunker
    Citation: BMC Public Health 2022 22:1746
    Content type: Research Published on:

  18. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of extreme precipitation on the risk of outpatient visits for depression and to further explore its associated disease burden and vulnerable population.

    Authors: Gang Jiang, Yanhu Ji, Changhao Chen, Xiaosong Wang, Tiantian Ye, Yuhuan Ling and Heng Wang
    Citation: BMC Public Health 2022 22:1710
    Content type: Research Published on:

  19. Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is endemic in Zhejiang Province, China, while few studies have concentrated on the influence of meteorological factors on HFRS incidence in the area.

    Authors: Rong Zhang, Ning Zhang, Wanwan Sun, Haijiang Lin, Ying Liu, Tao Zhang, Mingyong Tao, Jimin Sun, Feng Ling and Zhen Wang
    Citation: BMC Public Health 2022 22:1097
    Content type: Research Published on:

  20. In the past decades, climate change has been impacting human lives and health via extreme weather and climate events and alterations in labour capacity, food security, and the prevalence and geographical distr...

    Authors: Claudia Di Napoli, Alice McGushin, Marina Romanello, Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson, Wenjia Cai, Jonathan Chambers, Shouro Dasgupta, Luis E. Escobar, Ilan Kelman, Tord Kjellstrom, Dominic Kniveton, Yang Liu, Zhao Liu, Rachel Lowe, Jaime Martinez-Urtaza, Celia McMichael…
    Citation: BMC Public Health 2022 22:663
    Content type: Research in practice Published on: