Climate Change and Health: Impacts and Adaptations

Tuition Fees: General Admission €1,500; tropEd €1,000

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Why This Course?

Climate change has become a reality which the health community is only slowly taking into account. The potentially far-reaching adverse health effects, sometimes of irreversible nature, need to be understood by researchers, practitioners and public health institutions in order to develop and implement practices and policies to counter them.

In low- and middle-income countries especially, the issues are poorly studied and understood.

Learning Objectives

The objective of this course is to provide participants with the ability to recognise the linkages between climate change and health and provide them with methods and tools to manage the impact of climate change on health. Examples will be drawn, whenever possible, from both developed and developing countries and cases studies will serve as a basis for learning

At the end of the course the participant should be able to:

• Discuss and describe the physico-chemical basis of anthropogenic climate change and its dynamic
  Specific objectives:
  • explain the mechanisms of climate change
  • explain the links beween climate change and environmental impact
  • illustrate the links beween climate change with regional examples

• Describe the links between climate change and health impacts
  Specific objectives:
  • explain the concept of climate-sensitive diseases
  • describe health outcomes linked to climate effects
  • identify mechanisms linking environmental conditions and health

• Recognise effective methods to assess health impact
  Specific objectives:
  • review epidemiological methods evaluating health condition
  • identify methodologies assessing health impact

• Plan and evaluate mitigation and adaptation policies
  Specific objectives:
  • differentiate the concepts of mitigation (equivalent to primary prevention) and adaptation (equivalent to secondary prevention)
  • use mitigation and adaptation policies to derive possible alternatives
  • analyse mitigation and adaptation policies and evaluate their effectiveness

• Apply the concepts, methods and tools within a country or region in the form of a case study (synthesis)

Content Overview

• Physico-chemical basis of anthropogenic climate change and its dynamics
• Environmental impact of climate change
• Climate-sensitive diseases
• Health outcome linked to climate change and environmental impact
• Methods for assessing health impact
• Mitigation and adaptation strategies
• Policies for mitigation and adaptation and their evaluation

Learning Methods

The course is composed of individual teaching units (50%), facilitated group work (30%) and self-directed learning (20%).

The group work will include case studies at the regional or national level that focus on specific regions of interest selected by the participants. This facilitates the participants’ achievement of the learning objectives and demonstrates the applicability of the concepts and methods to specific regional settings.

Because the topic of the course lies at the crossroad of several scientific disciplines, lecturers will be from a variety of fields including geography, climatology, biodiversity, modeling, epidemiology, public health and medicine. An appropriate mix of knowledge-transfer methods such as lectures, films, case study, critical incidents etc., will be used to insure that material that is new to most participants is communicated effectively.

Assessment Methods

Course participants are expected to attend teaching sessions and actively participate in class discussions and group work. These criteria correspond with the learning objectives of the course. Assessment of participants’ achievement of the learning objectives will be determined as follows:

• 50% individual final written exam composed of 2 or 3 short essay questions
• 30% group written report of case study (3 pages)
• 20% group oral presentation of case study

Duration and Accreditation

• The course covers ten working days (90 Hours).
• 3 ECTS  (tropEd Master in International Health).

Target Group and Prerequisites

• Public health professionals, project planners & managers, paramedical staff, social scientists, tropEd students, etc.
• The course is held in English. Fluency in English (Reading, Speaking, Writing) required for the course.

Course Fee and Registration

• General admittance € 1.500,-
• troEd students € 1.000.-

Please register as soon as possible as the number of participants is limited.

A non-refundable registration fee of € 200, which will be credited towards the tuition fee, is due no later than 8 weeks prior to the start of the course. The remaining tuition fee is due not later than 6 weeks prior to the start of the course. Unfortunately, no Scholarships are available. If the participant withdraws from the course

• less than 6 weeks prior: 25 % of the course fee will be charged.
• less than 4 weeks prior: 50 % of the course fee will be charged.
• less than 2 weeks prior: the whole course fee will be charged.

The tuition fee does not include accommodation, insurance or other personal living costs during the stay.

Short Courses Coordinator/tropEd Coordinator

Nandita Rothermund-Bucher, M.A.
Short Courses in International Health
Institute of Public Health, University of Heidelberg
Im Neuenheimer Feld 324, D-69120 Heidelberg
Fon: + 49 - (0) 62 21 - 56 46 48
Fax: + 49 - (0) 62 21 - 56 49 18
short.courses(at)urz.uni-heidelberg.de

Course Coordinators

• Dr. Valerie Louis
  Institute of Public Health

• Dr. Revati Phalkey
  Institute of Public Health

Short Course Programme Coordinator

Dr. Pauline Grys
Institute of Public Health
Fon: + 49 - (0) 62 21 - 56 50 48
grys@uni-heidelberg.de