CRG Seminar: Climate Change, Ecosystem Degradation, and Health in Africa: A Systematic Review
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Background: Climate change and ecosystem degradation are reshaping health in Africa, with documented effects on mental health, infectious and noncommunicable diseases, nutrition, and health systems. The evidence base is growing but remains uneven across sub-regions and disciplines. This review consolidates what is known about these health impacts and the adaptation and mitigation responses described to date.
Methods: This is a systematic review conducted in line with PRISMA 2020 guidelines. It covers research published between January 2000 and April 2026 on African populations and links climatic and/or ecological exposures to health outcomes or to adaptation and mitigation responses. Eligibility is structured by the Population, Exposure, and Outcome (PEO) framework. PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar, African Journals Online (AJOL), Ebscohost, and the World Health Organization’s Index Medicus were searched to retrieve the relevant literature which have been synthesised narratively.
Results: The review produces a continent-wide map of documented health impacts and responses, identifies methodological and conceptual gaps, and surfaces where Indigenous and community-based knowledge is engaged. It also clarifies how attribution claims are framed across the African evidence base and which exposures, outcomes, and sub-regions remain understudied.
Conclusion: The findings inform policy, planetary health research priorities, and decolonial debates in the field. They also offer a basis for African-led research agendas that take equity and epistemic plurality seriously.
This seminar is given by Hubert Amu and organised by the Collaborative Research Group Planetary Health in and from Africa.
This event will take place in person in Leiden. For registrants who cannot travel to Leiden, a link to an online platform will be sent before the start of the event.
Speaker
Dr. Hubert Amu is a public health scholar and Senior Lecturer at the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), Ghana. He is also an adjunct lecturer with University of the People, USA, and Unicaf University, Cyprus. He holds a PhD and MPhil in Population and Health from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (International) from Liverpool John Moores University, UK.
Hubert’s research focuses on non-communicable diseases, climate change, digital health, mental health, and health systems research, with particular attention to sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). He has led and contributed to multiple funded projects on climate-related health risks, non-communicable diseases, and digital health interventions, and has extensive experience in mixed-methods research, systematic reviews, and implementation science. He has published over 170 peer-reviewed articles and is ranked among the top 2% of scientists globally for his research outputs.
During his fellowship at the African Studies Centre Leiden (ASCL), Dr. Amu has been working on project “Planetary Health in and from Africa.” His research has produced a systematic review on climate change and health in Africa which will also lead to the development of commentary paper on decolonising planetary health.
Date, time and location
24 June 2026
15:30 - 17:00 CEST
Herta Mohr Building / Faculty of Humanities, Witte Singel 27a, 2311 BG Leiden
Room 0.31
Registration
Posted on 4 June 2026, last modified on 4 June 2026