Alan Dangour on reframing climate change as a health crisis

The notion that climate change poses a significant health risk is not as widely acknowledged as it should be. Yet the relationship between a warming planet and human well-being is profound, with impacts ranging from heat waves to the spread of infectious diseases. Alan Dangour, Director of Climate and Health at Wellcome, is determined to change that. 

“Developing evidence-based solutions to the damage to our health done by climate change is genuinely vital,” Dangour told Mongabay during a recent exchange with Matthew Boyer, reflecting his mission to place health at the center of climate action.

Dangour’s journey at the nexus of human well-being and the environment began well before joining Wellcome in January 2022. As a Professor of Food and Nutrition for Global Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, he dedicated years to studying the intersections of environmental change, food systems, and public health. His time in academia highlighted the increasing toll that climate change was taking on health, a theme that has only grown more pressing. Today, at the helm of Wellcome’s Climate and Health program, Dangour leads a team focused on translating research into practical, policy-driven solutions that protect communities from the health consequences of a rapidly changing climate.

While the concept of climate change as a public health issue is not new, its mainstream inclusion remains limited. For many, the conversation around climate remains centered on atmospheric science, energy policies, and sea level projections. Dangour’s work aims to recalibrate this discourse. “When talking about the impact of climate change, we need to move beyond measuring this in degrees Celsius, carbon emissions and sea level rises and start evaluating the climate crisis in terms of lives at risk and the work towards protecting them,” he argues. By framing climate change as a health crisis, Dangour and his team hope to catalyze more immediate and impactful actions.

The Wellcome Climate and Health program seeks to strengthen the evidence base for how climate change affects health, from heat waves to the spread of climate-sensitive diseases like dengue fever. For Dangour, these connections are clear: “We’re increasingly experiencing extreme heat and the spread of climate-sensitive infectious diseases, such as dengue, in areas where they have not historically been a major issue, further north in Europe and America.” The geographical spread of such diseases, accelerated by rising global temperatures, serves as a stark reminder of the urgency to act.

But the challenge goes beyond merely understanding these health risks. One of the program’s central goals is ensuring that research translates into real-world solutions. That means not just publishing findings, but embedding them into the policy decisions that shape public health. 

“We want to fund research that leads to action in the real world and offers practical solutions to address climate and health issues,” Dangour explained via email. To do so, Wellcome seeks to foster collaboration between researchers, policymakers, and communities. By supporting transdisciplinary approaches, they aim to break down the silos that too often limit progress.

A case in point is Wellcome’s research on extreme heat. The risks posed by heatwaves are clear: they strain the body’s ability to regulate temperature, leading to heat exhaustion and potentially fatal heat stroke. Elderly populations, infants, and those with chronic conditions are particularly vulnerable. To address these challenges, Wellcome is funding research that investigates community-specific interventions, from planting trees to cool agricultural workers, to testing the efficacy of cool-roof coatings in keeping indoor spaces habitable during periods of extreme heat.

Climate change also exacerbates gender-specific health risks. Dangour points to the example of maternal health, where extreme heat has been shown to increase risks during pregnancy. 

“The impact that extreme heat has on maternal health is well documented, but we currently lack detailed understanding of the biological mechanisms involved,” he said. This gap in knowledge is exactly the kind of challenge that Wellcome seeks to address by supporting new research that can inform more effective public health interventions.

While the immediate focus of Wellcome’s efforts is on better understanding and mitigating the health impacts of climate change, the program’s broader ambition is to create a thriving field of climate and health research. This involves building a robust infrastructure that allows researchers to work across disciplines and countries. It also includes leveraging technology, such as artificial intelligence, to accelerate the synthesis and dissemination of evidence. 

“In the future, it would be amazing to have an open-access AI tool that automatically updates evidence syntheses as studies are published,” Dangour noted, pointing to the potential for cutting-edge technologies to enhance how we generate and apply knowledge.

Beyond research, Wellcome plays a crucial role in convening different stakeholders, from government bodies to local communities, to push for health-centered climate policies. 

“Philanthropic organizations are in a unique position to help convene stakeholders from community groups to researchers to policymakers to help affect change,” Dangour asserted. 

This convening power, he believes, is key to ensuring that climate change is no longer discussed in abstract terms but in ways that relate directly to people’s everyday lives and health.

Ultimately, Alan Dangour’s vision is for a world where health is central to all climate discussions. By embedding health into climate policies and actions, Wellcome aims to not only mitigate the harms of climate change but also create healthier, more resilient societies. For Dangour, this is both an urgent priority and a long-term commitment. 

“We are working towards a healthier and more sustainable world where local communities and national governments are fully equipped to use evidence-based interventions to tackle climate and health emergencies,” he said.

The work may be daunting, but for Dangour, the path forward is clear: interdisciplinary research, robust evidence, and, most importantly, translating that evidence into action. The stakes are high, but so too is the potential to protect lives across the globe.

Can you share a bit about your background and what led you to your current role at the Wellcome Trust?

I joined Wellcome in January 2022 to lead our Climate and Health program, which aims to put health at the heart of global climate action. Previously, I was a Professor of Food and Nutrition for Global Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, working on the interconnections between environmental change, food systems and health. My years of research really highlighted to me the ways in which climate change not only affects the environment but also our health. Developing evidence-based solutions to the damage to our health done by climate change is genuinely vital.

Can you describe some of the key projects or initiatives the Wellcome Trust is currently funding in the area of climate and health?

We’re building evidence on the best course of action to tackle the health challenges caused by climate change. For example, the impact that extreme heat has on maternal health is well documented, but we currently lack detailed understanding of the biological mechanisms involved, and how to best reduce this risk to protect pregnant women. So, a priority area for Wellcome right now is to build understanding of the impacts of climate change on human health, which will be used to inform policymakers to drive positive change. This focus on real-life change is at the heart of all our climate and health research. We’re also supporting new approaches to synthesizing evidence  for climate and health using technology like AI. In the future, it would be amazing to have an open-access AI tool that automatically updates evidence syntheses as studies are published.

What are some of the biggest challenges you face in your efforts to address climate and health issues through philanthropy?

Tackling climate and health challenges requires experts from many different disciplines to work together, breaking down disciplinary silos. As a leader in the space, we have a role in challenging the current ways of working to stimulate more interdisciplinary research to solve these global challenges and to bring in different perspectives. We want to fund research that leads to action in the real world and offers practical solutions to address climate and health issues, so we aim to involve communities and policy stakeholders at every step of the way.

What opportunities do you see for philanthropy to make a significant impact in the climate and health sectors over the next decade?

Good climate action and health action often go hand in hand, and it would be great to see this recognized more frequently and explicitly. Research and policy in health need to factor in the impact of climate change to be resilient to the changes coming our way. Equally, when talking about the impact of climate change we need to move beyond measuring this in degrees Celsius, carbon emissions and sea level rises and start evaluating the climate crisis in terms of lives at risk and the work towards protecting them. Philanthropic organizations are in a unique position to help convene stakeholders from community groups to researchers to policy makers to help affect change.

What are the Wellcome Trust’s long-term goals for its climate and health initiatives?

We are working towards a healthier and more sustainable world where local communities and national governments are fully equipped to use evidence-based interventions to tackle climate and health emergencies.

For example, extreme heat can lead to heat exhaustion and heat stroke and can affect our ability to regulate our temperature, which puts a strain on our bodies and can be especially challenging for elderly populations, infants and those with chronic conditions. That’s why we’re supporting research teams to investigate different ways to manage and limit the health effects of heat in the communities that need it most. We’re funding research seeing if trees can protect agricultural workers from the long-term health risks associated with heat exposure. We also have a research group assessing the effectiveness of affordable, sunlight-reflecting cool-roof coatings on reducing the impact of extreme heat on vulnerable populations by keeping indoor temperatures cool. These are just some of the studies we’re funding to gather evidence and inform policy.

How do you incorporate the perspectives and needs of local communities into your climate and health projects?

It is vital that research involves stakeholders with deep local knowledge. This is to ensure that solutions are tailored to the unique challenges that people face. For example, research we fund at the Zvitambo Institute for Maternal and Child Health Research in Zimbabwe is working very closely with local communities to not only understand the effects of climate change on child malnutrition but also how a community-driven response can help to address this.

How does the Wellcome Trust ensure that its climate and health initiatives promote global health equity?

We don’t want our funded research to end simply in a scientific journal article. The findings have to help the people most affected by climate change. There are many different ways we try to ensure this.

For example, a lot of climate change and mental health research historically has been done in high income countries in the global north where vulnerabilities may differ and this means we don’t have the evidence or the understanding to develop effective interventions in other countries. Connecting Climate Minds, a Wellcome-funded project, has interviewed 900 experts around the world to better understand the intersection of climate change and mental health and identify research and policy priorities.

Access to data is a key element in advancing global health equity. We support the collection and sharing of data on climate and health to ensure that policymakers and scientists globally can access this evidence, so experts beyond those that we fund can leverage this information to develop practical and affordable solutions to climate change.

Regarding the intersection of climate and health, how might the constituency for addressing climate change be broadened with an emphasis on public health implications of higher temperatures and severe weather events?

Many people are still unaware of how climate change can impact their health, especially the health of those in vulnerable groups such as the elderly, the young and pregnant women.

We’re increasingly experiencing extreme heat and the spread of climate-sensitive infectious diseases such as dengue in areas where they have not historically been a major issue, further north in Europe and America, for example. While the speed at which this has happened is alarming, I am also hopeful that it will drive home the need to limit climate change and to develop health solutions.

What are some key lessons you’ve learned from your work that you think others in the field should be aware of?

I think that there are two key lessons that I’d like to share.  First that some of the most exciting and most innovative research occurs at the boundaries of existing disciplines coming together.  We’re bringing together the fields of global health and climate science – and it’s at the intersection of these disciplinary areas where the critical work needs to be done.  This does not come without challenges but when it works, and climate and health researchers work together with a shared goal the outputs are spectacular.  And secondly, that having a strong mission – and critically sticking to it – is essential and hugely motivating. Our mission to put health at the heart of climate change action has coalesced an exciting new global field and we’re already beginning to see the impacts!

Header image: Green rice paddies in Udomxai province, Laos. Photo by Rhett A. Butler