Health Adaptive Capacity: Methods for Developing Indicators of Countries’ Health Preparedness to Climate Change

Abstract

This study builds scientific understanding of adaptive capacity and health preparedness to construct an index of health adaptive capacity that is applied globally at the country-level. Understanding effective climate change adaptation approaches is increasingly important as the health impacts of climate change continue to grow. Yet, in public health research there is a gap in understanding health adaptive capacity. Therefore, this study built an index on health adaptive capacity based on the World Health Organization’s Operational Framework and the general determinants of adaptive capacity to build an index of health-specific determinants of adaptive capacity. This index will help provide clearer understanding of countries’ ability to adapt, potential vulnerabilities, and gaps in data and assessments. This study is a first step in facilitating resilience to the health risks of climate change, that further research will help clarify.