The Bloomsbury Colleges

Using a One Health approach to investigate the effects of climate change on acute malnutrition in the Sahel region

Principal Supervisor: Oliver Cumming (Assistant Professor, Department of Disease Control, Infectious and Tropical Diseases, LSHTM)

Co-Supervisors: Aideen Foley (Reader in Environment and Society, School of Social Sciences, Academic Co-director of Environmental Education Projects, Innovation & Commercialisation, Birkbeck) and Laura Braun (Assistant Professor, Department of Disease Control, Infectious and Tropical Diseases, LSHTM)

Project Description

Acute malnutrition remains a critical public health challenge, despite being both preventable and treatable. Globally, an estimated 45 million children suffer from this condition. Many countries with high rates of acute malnutrition are also vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The Sahel region is particularly vulnerable according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), with populations more likely to suffer from climatic shocks, such as flooding and droughts, and related food and water insecurity 1.

Though there are effective interventions to both prevent and treat acute malnutrition, strategies often fail to comprehensively address the complex risk factors at play2. Climate change further exacerbates this complexity by affecting many of these inter-related factors3. Traditional public health strategies to manage acute malnutrition often fail to consider the interplay between human, animal and environmental risk factors. The One Health approach offers a framework for understanding this interplay and how climate change may affect the burden and distribution of acute malnutrition in the Sahel region.

To date there has been limited research to understand the effects of climate change on acute malnutrition using a One Health approach4. This research project combines the public health and climate change expertise of LSHTM and Birkbeck respectively with the extensive operational and policy experience of the international NGO Action Against Hunger (ACF). The research will adopt a One Health framework to explore the determinants of acute malnutrition and the impacts of climate change in Senegal and the broader Sahel region.

The proposed project aims to inform targeted public health strategies that can mitigate the effects of climate change of acute malnutrition in vulnerable populations.

Aims & Objectives

The overall aim of this PhD is to investigate the effects of climate change on acute malnutrition in the Sahel region using a One Health lens. Specifically, the project will:

  1. Identify climate change-related risk factors for acute malnutrition through a One Health perspective via a scoping review.
  2. Assess how stakeholders, including NGOs and national and local governments, understand the risks of climate change on acute malnutrition in the Sahel and the potential utility of a One Health approach.
  3. Describe the relationship between climate-related risk factors and acute malnutrition in North Senegal.
  4. Develop a risk model for acute malnutrition across the Sahel region and model the potential effects of climate change on the burden of acute malnutrition under various future climate scenarios.

Methodology:

The student will build their skills in mixed methods approaches to investigate this complex area. Methods will include scoping reviews, qualitative interviews, quantitative analysis, spatial and climate modelling approaches.

Objective 1:

A comprehensive review of the literature will identify climate-change related risk factors (e.g. climate shocks and trends, animal ownership, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) access) for acute malnutrition, focusing on the interplay between humans, animals, and the environment.

Objective 2:

The student will build on the findings of objective 1 and conduct semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders in the Sahel, including local and national NGOs and government actors, and international agencies to assess their understanding of how climate-related risk factors are impacting acute malnutrition. Furthermore, interviews will assess understanding and perceived utility of a One Health approach that consider humans, animals and the environment together.

Objective 3:

The student will analyse data collected from a large-scale randomised controlled trial conducted in Senegal over an area of approximately 25,000 km2 to evaluate the effect of WASH on outpatient treatment of severe acute malnutrition recovery. Data from this trial includes household demographics, WASH infrastructure and practices, animal ownership, household GPS coordinates, as well as rates of acute malnutrition and recovery following treatment. The student will combine these with publicly available data on a wide range of meteorological, land use and vegetation indices and socio-demographic variables. The student will build a model to assess the relationships between these factors and acute malnutrition recovery.  

Objective 4:

Drawing on the results from objective 1, 2 and 3, a risk model will be developed using publicly available data, for example Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS). The objective is to model how climate affects environmental, animal and human risk factors for acute malnutrition in the Sahel. In turn, the student will incorporate global and regional climate projections into their risk model to understand the effects on acute malnutrition, developing expertise in a wide range of statistical and machine learning methods to model risk and climate projections. 

Significance:

This work will address a critical evidence gap around the potential effects of climate change on acute malnutrition in the Sahel region as mediated by human, animal and environmental factors. This will support predictive modelling of how the burden and distribution of acute malnutrition may change under various climate scenarios. These results can inform more effective strategies to mitigate the effects of climate change on acute malnutrition among vulnerable populations. The work will be done in partnership with ACF, leveraging their operational and policy expertise, and engage local and national stakeholders.

Subject Areas/Keywords:

Acute malnutrition; climate change; water sanitation and hygiene; Sahel; Senegal 

Key References

  1. IPCC. (2022). Climate change 2022: Impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Available at: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/
  2. Brown, M.E., Backer, D., Billing, T., White, P., Grace, K., Doocy, S. and Huth, P. (2020). Empirical studies of factors associated with child malnutrition: highlighting the evidence about climate and conflict shocks. Food Security, 12, 1241-1252.
  3. Owino, V., Kumwenda, C., Ekesa, B., Parker, M.E., Ewoldt, L., Roos, N., Lee, W.T. and Tome, D. (2022). The impact of climate change on food systems, diet quality, nutrition, and health outcomes: A narrative review. Frontiers in Climate, 4, 941842.
  4. Acosta, D., Barrow, A., Mahamadou, I.S., Assuncao, V.S., Edwards, M.E. and McKune, S.L. (2024). Climate change and health in the Sahel: a systematic review. Royal Society Open Science, 11(7), p.231602.

Further details about the project may be obtained from:

https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/study/fees-and-funding/funding-scholarships/research-degree-funding

Principal Supervisor: Oliver Cumming – olivercumming@lshtm.ac.uk

Co-Supervisor: Aideen Foley – a.foley@bbk.ac.uk

Co-Supervisor: Laura Braun – Laura.Braun@lshtm.ac.uk

Further information about PhDs at LSHTM is available from:

https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/study/courses/research-degrees-and-doctoral-college

Application forms and details about how to apply are available from:

https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/study/fees-and-funding/funding-scholarships/research-degree-funding

Closing date for applications is:         
Monday 3rd February 2025 at 23:59 (GMT)