SALURBAL-Climate

Climate Change and Urban Health in Latin America

A five-year project addressing the critical need for evidence on the links between climate change and health impacts across Latin America.

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Project

Overview

Launched in 2023, Climate Change and Urban Health in Latin America ("SALURBAL-Climate") addresses a critical need for evidence on the links between climate change and health impacts across Latin America.

SALURBAL-Climate leverages and expands the unprecedented data infrastructure, interdisciplinary team, and community and policy partnerships established by the SALURBAL Project (2017-2023).

Researchers on the SALURBAL-Climate team are studying a wide range of climate and health connections, including:

Impacts of climate-related exposures such as extreme temperatures, droughts, floods, and air pollution on health and health inequities
The role of city and neighborhood-level factors in exacerbating or mitigating these impacts
The observed and projected health impacts of urban climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies.

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Health Impact Assessments

Leadership and Organization

Team and Partners

Advisory Board

SALURBAL-Climate Fellows

Project Aims

Project findings and activities will catalyze the creation of a climate change and health research, policy, and practice community that generates and uses evidence to drive urgent policy and community actions to address climate change impacts across the region.

Aim 1

Generate locally relevant evidence on climate change health and equity impacts.

Aim 1 activities include the expansion of the SALURBAL data resource to additional health outcomes, climate change hazards, and other climate-relevant exposures. This data resource allows the team to explore a series of research questions related to the impacts of climate on health and health inequities at the city and subcity levels across Latin America. To-date, SALURBAL has produced over 150 peer-reviewed publications and numerous briefs, videos, interactive features, and other products to disseminate our research findings.

Explore our research findings and data catalog.

Aim 2

Document health and equity impacts of climate mitigation and adaptation strategies.

Aim 2 includes the development of Health Impact Assessments for the Carrera Séptima sustainable urban mobility intervention in Bogotá, Colombia, and for BROTAR, an urban reforestation initiative in Santiago, Chile.

The team is also developing health impact quantifications, adapting existing tools and approaches to model the health impacts of urban strategies applicable across many cities, including the electrification of public bus fleets. Learn more about our Health Impact Assessments and Health Impact Quantifications.

Aim 3

Support field building and capacity strengthening in policy-relevant research.

Aim 3 activities include a climate change and urban health journal club, regular webinars and workshops, a fellowship program, and a mentorship program to support junior researchers. Subscribe to the SALURBAL-Climate newsletter to stay up to date on our capacity strengthening and other activities.

Aim 4

Support policy action and advocacy for responding to climate change health impacts.

Aim 4 works to ensure that the project's research and other activities respond to local priorities and that we effectively deliver our findings to policymakers and the public. The team works with journalists and develops trainings for our research team to strengthen capacity for the communication of complex research findings. A Policy Core convenes representatives from all SALURBAL partner institutions to coordinate engagement and dissemination activities, track progress, and identify strategies to maximize the relevance and impact of our research findings. An external Policy and Community Advisory Board provides guidance and feedback on the project's engagement and dissemination outputs and activities.