1/2 GeoHealth Hub for Climate Change and Health in the Middle East and North Africa-Jordan

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Abstract The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is going to be at the center of climate change adverse health impacts. Already record heatwaves, high frequency of desert dust storms, drought and low precipitation, and high air pollution are being documented. However, studies about their health impacts on the populations are scarce and not linked to climate change policies and there is limited multi-country efforts in the MENA Region to address the different health effects of climate change. In our project, we aim to establish the “GeoHealth Hub for Climate Change and Health in MENA” through two components: the U2R which represents the part related to capacity building of stakeholders from the MENA Regions and the U01 which is the component developing the research profile. From MENA, the Jordan University for Science and Technology, The University of Balamand, and Mohamed VI University of Health Sciences will be partnering with the University of California San Diego, University of California Berkeley, and Harvard University from the U.S. In addition, the U.S. CDC, and the WHO Center for Environmental Health Action will be an integral part of the hub. The impacts of climate change on health, water, air pollution and identified gaps and areas of development in environmental and public health will be the initial focus of the hub. The ultimate goal is to produce and support climate change policies that protect and promote environmental and public health and become the state-of-the-art entity to provide models and tools for quantifying the health and economic impacts of climate change risks in relation to water scarcity, heat waves, air pollution, and desert dust. The research project in Jordan will study the impact of two climate change-induced public health threats: (1) water scarcity and nitrate pollution and (2) heatwaves. The spatial and temporal downscaled climate change will be constructed to identify areas of potential vulnerability to climate change. The spatial and temporal analysis of nitrate pollution across Jordan will be assessed. Moreover, the impact of nitrate levels on birth weight of newborns will be documented. Furthermore, the impact of heatwaves on mortality under the baseline climate scenario as well as under the climate ensemble model predictions will be investigated. In Lebanon, the health impact of air pollution on respiratory, cardiovascular, and skin allergic diseases among women and children will be studied. In Morocco, the association of desert dust air pollution with climate will be determined using large-scale atmospheric patterns and climate indices. Seasonal weather patterns favorable to particulate pollution partially originating from the Saharan desert will be identified. These studies build on prior research conducted by the team members and will be followed up by policies recommendations on wastewater reuse, heatwaves alerts, and air pollution from combustion and desert dust. Ministries of Health and Environment from participating countries will be key partners in this project and will be involved in capacity building and training of their relevant staff in air pollution, water quality and advanced environmental epidemiology.