A study led by CMCC highlights how climate change exacerbates threats to child health in Burkina Faso, emphasizing the need for effective and urgent adaptive measures, to prevent worsening impacts and support sustainable development.

Numerous studies have broadly recognized and proven that anthropogenic climate change is having a negative impact not only on the environment and ecosystems, but also on human health.

A paper titled “Climate, Weather, and Child Health in Burkina Faso” was recently published in The Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics (Wiley). The paper’s lead author is CMCC’s Shouro Dasgupta, together with co-author Elizabeth Robinson from the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

The paper carried out a rigorous empirical analysis of the impact of climate and weather shocks on child health in Burkina Faso. It represents the first comprehensive assessment of climate impacts on child mortality, stunting, and wasting. The authors combined demographic and health surveys with high-resolution meteorological data.

“Our research is among the few studies that quantify the extent to which climate change, as manifested in increasing heat and frequency and intensity of droughts, is already exacerbating child health outcomes and is likely to continue doing so in the future,” say Dasgupta and Robinson.

The study focuses on Burkina Faso, which is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change worldwide. The paper presents robust evidence that both long-term and short-term exposure to high temperatures and droughts have a detrimental impact on child health, as do increased temperature anomalies during crop seasons, suggesting a link between climate and health through domestic food production. Factors such as income, household wealth, access to electricity, sanitation, and healthcare facilities for childbirth mitigate some of the adverse impacts of climate change.

“The escalating frequency of climate and weather shocks is already measurably undermining child health and development in Burkina Faso, reversing some of the progress made by the country through investments such as improving women’s access to universal health care and improved nutrition,” say the authors. “These impacts are likely to worsen in the future, making the achievement of key sustainable development goals ever more difficult.”

The analysis suggests that, without sufficient and effective adaptation, child health outcomes in Burkina Faso will only improve between 2050 and 2070 if global temperature increases are limited to 1.5°C or below. Combining econometric estimates with updated CMIP6 scenarios, the authors computed policy relevant projections of future child health, showing that future warming is projected to significantly increase child mortality and the percentage of underweight and stunted children, except under the Paris Agreement scenario.

“Our findings, by identifying the extent to which negative child health and nutrition outcomes are worsened by climate change, highlight the importance of adaptation for individual countries,” say Dasgupta and Robinson. “More broadly, quantifying the links between climate change and health can provide further evidence of the benefits of global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to support economic growth, poverty reduction and increased prosperity, particularly in lower-income countries.”

This research shows the health prospects that await populations worldwide, particularly those in low-income countries, due to future climate change. Its findings highlight the collective global responsibility to cut down emissions to reduce the health burden on countries such as Burkina Faso that contribute minimally to global emissions.

“Our findings provide an important starting point for working with experts in Burkina Faso on strategies to adapt to the changing climate and build resilience across food and health systems,” say the authors. “This paper is particularly important to us as we have been part of the Burkina Faso delegation for COP26 and COP27. Our analysis is robust and policy-relevant and hopefully will be useful to contribute to effective decision making.”