加纳卫生专家和公众对与气候相关的健康风险的概念化。
Conceptualizations of climate-related health risks among health experts and the public in Ghana.
机构信息
Department of Geography, Western University, London, ON N6A 5C2, Canada.
Department of Geography, Western University, London, ON N6A 5C2, Canada.
出版信息
Soc Sci Med. 2019 Feb;223:40-50. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.01.026. Epub 2019 Jan 18.
One major area that has gathered public attention in relation to climate change is health risks. Studies into risk perceptions have acknowledged differences between public and expert knowledge. What is less known is how perceptions of climate change related health risk vary between the public and health experts and how these differentiated perceptions are shaped and modified by everyday complex climate change narratives from multiple actors, and contextual ecologies of social and physical spaces. A concurrent mixed-methods approach was used to elucidate climate change knowledge and awareness of climate-related health risks among health experts and the public. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected on community members (n = 927) and health experts (n = 99) in Savelugu-Nanton and Ada East Districts in Ghana. The results showed that both groups were likely to report climate change-related health concerns, of which disease was the top concern. However, differences exist in public and experts' perceptions of climate change health linkage. Community members were less likely to link climate change to health risks compared with health experts (OR = 0.02, p ≤ 0.000). The contrasting climate change health risk perceptions between health experts and the public adds to the literature on the health dimensions of global environmental change. The findings from this study highlight limited knowledge about climate change health related risks among the public. Hence, in building sustainable communities in light of persistent climate change impacts, it is crucial to improve climate change adaptation by implementing climate change sensitization programs. In addition, health infrastructure, decision-making and management should be strengthened for effective response to emerging climate-health risks in Ghana and similar contexts.
一个与气候变化相关、引起公众关注的主要领域是健康风险。有关风险认知的研究已经承认了公众知识和专家知识之间的差异。人们知之甚少的是,公众和健康专家如何看待与气候变化相关的健康风险,以及这些不同的看法如何被来自多个行为者的日常复杂气候变化叙述以及社会和物理空间的背景生态所塑造和改变。本研究采用并行混合方法,阐明了健康专家和公众对气候变化知识以及与气候相关的健康风险的认识。在加纳的萨维卢古-纳顿和阿达东区,对社区成员(n=927)和健康专家(n=99)进行了定性和定量数据收集。结果表明,两组人都可能报告与气候变化相关的健康问题,其中疾病是最受关注的问题。然而,公众和专家对气候变化与健康联系的看法存在差异。与健康专家相比,社区成员不太可能将气候变化与健康风险联系起来(OR=0.02,p≤0.000)。健康专家和公众对气候变化健康风险的看法存在差异,这增加了有关全球环境变化对健康影响的文献。本研究的结果突显了公众对与气候变化相关的健康风险的认识有限。因此,在面对持续的气候变化影响时,为了建设可持续社区,必须通过实施气候变化敏感化计划来改善气候变化适应能力。此外,应该加强卫生基础设施、决策和管理,以应对加纳和类似情况下新出现的气候-健康风险。