Division of Health Research, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK.
Blackpool Council, Blackpool, UK.
BMC Public Health. 2023 Oct 5;23(1):1932. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-16853-8.
Climate change is one of the greatest threats to public health in this century. The UK is one of six countries that has enshrined in law a commitment to become net zero by 2050. However, there is a lack of guidance and structure for local government in the UK, which has responsibility for public health, to reach this goal and help their communities mitigate and adapt to the health and health inequality impacts of climate change. This study aimed to identify common barriers and facilitators related to addressing the health and health inequality impacts of climate change in local governments.
Using Normalisation Process Theory, we developed a two-round survey for people working in local authorities to identify the barriers and facilitators to including the health and health inequality impact of climate change in their climate action plans. The survey was delivered online via Qualtrics software. In the first-round respondents were able to express their views on barriers and facilitators and in the second round they ranked common themes identified from the first round. Two hundred and fifty people working in local government were invited to take part and n = 28 (11.2%) completed the first round of the survey and n = 14 completed the second round. Thematic analysis was used in Round 1 to identify common themes and weighted rankings were used to assess key barriers and facilitators in Round 2.
Key facilitators were the need to save money on energy, and successful partnership working already in place including across local government, with local communities and external stakeholders. Key barriers were insufficient staff, resources and lack of support from management/leaders, and lack of local evidence.
To mitigate and adapt to the health impacts of climate change, local government must nurture a culture of innovation and collaboration to ensure that different departments work together This means not just working with external partners, but also collaborating and co-producing with communities to achieve health equity and mitigate the debilitating effect of climate change on public health.
气候变化是本世纪对公众健康的最大威胁之一。英国是六个承诺到 2050 年实现净零排放的国家之一。然而，负责公共卫生的英国地方政府在实现这一目标方面缺乏指导和结构，也无法帮助其社区减轻和适应气候变化对健康和健康不平等的影响。本研究旨在确定与地方政府应对气候变化对健康和健康不平等影响相关的常见障碍和促进因素。
使用正常化进程理论，我们为地方当局的工作人员设计了一项两轮调查，以确定将气候变化对健康和健康不平等的影响纳入其气候行动计划的障碍和促进因素。该调查通过 Qualtrics 软件在线进行。在第一轮中，受访者可以就障碍和促进因素发表意见，在第二轮中，他们对第一轮中确定的常见主题进行了排名。邀请了 250 名在地方政府工作的人员参与，n=28（11.2%）完成了第一轮调查，n=14 完成了第二轮调查。第一轮采用主题分析来确定常见主题，并使用加权排名来评估第二轮的关键障碍和促进因素。
主要促进因素是节省能源的需要，以及已经到位的成功的伙伴关系工作，包括地方政府内部、与地方社区和外部利益相关者之间的合作。主要障碍是工作人员、资源不足以及缺乏管理层/领导的支持，以及缺乏当地证据。
为了减轻和适应气候变化对健康的影响，地方政府必须培养创新和合作文化，以确保不同部门共同努力。这意味着不仅要与外部合作伙伴合作，还要与社区合作和共同制定计划，以实现健康公平并减轻气候变化对公共健康的不利影响。
