Trummer Ursula, Ali Thowaiba, Mosca Davide, Mukuruva Blessing, Mwenyango Hadijah, Novak-Zezula Sonja
Center for Health and Migration, Austria.
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Economics and Finance Department, USA & Interstate Network to Develop Equity and Eliminate Disparities (INDEED) Grant, USA.
J Migr Health. 2023 Jan 20;7:100151. doi: 10.1016/j.jmh.2023.100151. eCollection 2023.
Climate change is an increasingly important theme in Africa, where a large majority of its people depend on livestock and agricultural activities for livelihood. Concurrently, the topic of health of migrants and people on the move is rapidly raising both in the health debate and migration governance agenda in the Region. The link with climate change from the perspective of health and migration experts needs to be systematically addressed.
The article aims to contribute to the discourse on the interrelation of climate change, migration, and health by providing contributions of experts in the field of health and migration directly working with migrant and refugee communities in Africa.
A webinar was conducted to collect and discuss first-hand experience with 25 participants from a postgraduate online course on health and migration funded by the Austrian Government and implemented in a co-operation of the Center for Health and Migration, Austria, with Makerere University, Uganda, the International Organization for Migration - UN Migration, and Lancet-Migration. As a result from the discussions, two cases from Sudan and Zimbabwe were selected to be further analysed with desk research to illustrate and underpin the points made.
All webinar participants reported to encounter climate change effects on health and migration in their professional practice. In their experience, climate change aggravates issues of health and migration by fueling forced migration and displacement, increasing health care needs, and deteriorating access to health care. Specific health challenges were identified for mental health problems caused by effects of climate change-induced migration, which remain widely undiagnosed and untreated, and the special affectedness of women and girls, with their mental, sexual and reproductive health severely deteriorated in insecure environments. The case studies from Sudan and Zimbabwe underline these observations.
The interplay of effects of climate change, (internal) migration, and health is reported by a community of experts in the field of health and migration who are residing in Africa and working with migrant communities. Webinars prove to be an easy to implement tool to collect first hand evidence from practice experts, to foster exchange of experiences, and to get people engaged in further collaboration and discussion.
气候变化在非洲正成为一个日益重要的主题，非洲的绝大多数人口依靠畜牧业和农业活动为生。与此同时，移民和流动人口的健康问题在该地区的健康辩论和移民治理议程中迅速升温。需要系统地探讨健康和移民专家视角下与气候变化的联系。
本文旨在通过提供直接与非洲移民和难民社区合作的健康与移民领域专家的见解，为气候变化、移民和健康之间的相互关系的讨论做出贡献。
举办了一次网络研讨会，收集并讨论来自奥地利政府资助的健康与移民研究生在线课程的25名参与者的第一手经验，该课程由奥地利健康与移民中心与乌干达马凯雷雷大学、国际移民组织 - 联合国移民组织以及《柳叶刀 - 移民》合作实施。讨论结果选出了苏丹和津巴布韦的两个案例，通过案头研究进行进一步分析，以阐明并支持所提出的观点。
所有网络研讨会参与者都报告说，在他们的专业实践中遇到了气候变化对健康和移民的影响。根据他们的经验，气候变化通过加剧被迫移民和流离失所、增加医疗需求以及恶化医疗服务可及性，使健康和移民问题更加严重。确定了气候变化导致的移民所引发的心理健康问题这一具体健康挑战，这些问题仍未得到广泛诊断和治疗，以及妇女和女孩受到的特殊影响，她们的心理、性健康和生殖健康在不安全环境中严重恶化。苏丹和津巴布韦的案例研究证实了这些观察结果。
居住在非洲并与移民社区合作的健康与移民领域的专家群体报告了气候变化、（国内）移民和健康之间的相互作用。网络研讨会被证明是一种易于实施的工具，可从实践专家那里收集第一手证据，促进经验交流，并促使人们参与进一步的合作与讨论。
