Wellcome announced its £17.5m funding contribution split between nine research projects across 11 countries – including Malaysia – to support research teams testing adaptions to reduce and prevent heat-related illness and deaths.
This is in line with the early forecast of an El Niño event that is predicted to likely occur later in 2023 – as an institution that works together with policy makers and other organisations, the funds are aimed to support the research teams to evaluate the effectiveness of El Niño interventions that are being implemented to adapt to extreme heat in some of the most affected parts of the world.
In an effort to spread awareness on the topic to the public, Wellcome introduced its climate and health programme aimed to ensure researchers are producing evidence that can be directly used by policymakers and practitioners. This means identifying the most effective interventions that are relevant to the local context, can be scaled up, and have the potential to be implementable and sustainable.
Dr Modi Mwatsama, Head of Field Development for Climate & Health at Wellcome, said, “We’ve seen dramatic effects of climate change in Europe and the USA in the last year or two – but none of this is new to people in lots of the world who have been feeling the effects of a heating world for longer. It’s getting hotter, but there is currently very little evidence on the effect on health of climate change adaptation actions. This means that communities, cities, and governments are designing and delivering climate change adaptations without understanding their wider implications, especially for public health.”
“We want to change that. This funding will begin to fill some of these gaps and aim to provide practical, affordable, and effective solutions for the people that need them most urgently,” she adds. Dr Modi mentioned the studies for this programme will run over five years, and while these projects will be focused in specific areas and tailored to address local challenges, the findings should be transferable to other parts of the world.
Wellcome’s programme includes funding for Malaysia’s study by lead researcher Professor Tin Tin Su from Monash University Malaysia on the health effects of heat in Southeast Asia: Behavioural and structural climate change adaptation interventions in semi-rural Malaysia. The research aims to evaluate the many participating elements that have the potential to protect vulnerable communities from the health effects of extreme heat, and introduce interventions to strengthen heat-health literacy and fluency that lead to better heat adaptation behaviours.
“To mitigate the negative impacts of heat and effectively address climate change and health issues, it is crucial for individuals and communities to make significant changes in their behaviour. By adopting suitable cooling solutions at an individual level, people can alleviate the physical strain caused by heat,” says Professor Tin Tin Su. She adds, “This funding will enable us to implement and assess interventions aimed at adapting behaviour and infrastructure to combat heat-related challenges. Our goal is to understand the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of various interventions, while also exploring the potential applicability of our approach in other low and middle-income countries.”
Other funded projects include:
- The effects of cool roofs on health, environmental and economic outcomes.
- Lead Researchers: Sir Collin Tukuitonga (University of Auckland, New Zealand) and Dr Aditi Bunker (University of Heidelberg, Germany)
- Sites: Mexico, Burkina Faso, India, Niue
- How can the health risks of extreme heat on pregnant women and newborns be reduced?
- Lead Researcher: Professor Matthew Chersic (Wits University, South Africa)
- Sites: South Africa, Zimbabwe
Wellcome wants to support local communities and national governments alike, by providing them with much needed scientific data and findings to equip them to tackle combined climate and health emergencies. As a leading global funder of science to advance human health and wellbeing, the organisation committed £16 billion over the coming decade to support scientific discovery and solutions to tackle the three most urgent health threats of our time – climate and health, infectious disease, and mental health.
