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Heartbeat of the Planet: Reporting on how climate change affects our health

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  1. Objectives and Structure 📋
  2. Lesson 1: Climate Change 🌍
    3 Topics
    |
    3 Quizzes
  3. Lesson 2: Direct health impacts 🌪️
    3 Topics
    |
    1 Quiz
  4. Lesson 3: Indirect health impacts 🌾
    1 Topic
    |
    1 Quiz
  5. Lesson 4: Solutions Journalism 📰
    2 Topics
  6. Lesson 5: Sources and Resources 📚
    3 Topics

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Pastoralist Lomilio Ewoi Erot in Kenya. Credit:BBC Media Action. Watch the video here.  

Climate change acts as a domino effect on human, environmental and animal health, where a single extreme weather event is the initial push. Just like a falling domino triggers a chain reaction, the direct impact of the event sets off a cascade of indirect consequences, rippling through communities, ecosystems and economies.

These effects may not be immediately linked to climate change but are ultimately influenced by changes in the environment and human behaviour. This article reflects on both the positive and negative effects of human health behaviour in a climate change context.

Indirect Impacts:

Mental health 🤯

Extreme weather conditions can take a severe toll on physical health, but it can also seriously impact mental health. Click on the above video produced by BBC Media Action and follow the devastating story of pastoralist Lomilio Ewoi Erot, from Northern Kenya, who lost his livelihood when his herd of hundreds of goats was swept away in a flood. He talks of not being able to provide for his family. It’s powerful journalism, giving viewers a first-hand view, in his own voice, of his struggles with mental health following the devastating impacts. Notice how the producers have made the link between climate change, extreme weather events leading to the man’s losses and the mental health issues.

Extreme weather events often lead to displacement, when people are forced to leave their destroyed homes and lands to eke out a living elsewhere. Internal or cross-border displacement and uncertainty about the future can add to stress, anxiety, depression, and other mental health disorders. Access to mental health services is either a luxury or non-existent in low-income countries. Young people are particularly at risk of developing mental health issues. Many have become anxious and sad about the uncertain future of our planet as reflected in this Lancet study of 10 countries.

⚠️ Climate change can threaten cultural heritage sites and traditional practices, leading to the loss of cultural identity and knowledge. This can have profound social and psychological impacts on communities. It’s a topic worth reporting on to create awareness about the impact of climate change on cultural identity. 

Food insecurity and malnutrition 🌽

According to WHO climate-sensitive health risks are disproportionately felt by the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, including women, children, ethnic minorities, poor people and rural communities, migrants or displaced persons, older populations, and those with underlying health conditions. It can also lead to social unrest, conflicts over resources, and forced migration.

The angle of this story – about the East African drought – is the resultant famine and food insecurity for millions of people and the deaths of millions of animals. The journalist has interviewed climate scientists who concluded that the continuing drought since 2020 would not have happened without the influence of human-caused climate change.

The United Nations says most children who die of climate-related causes do so because of malnutrition. A billion – half of the planet’s children – live in low-income countries that experience extreme and unpredictable weather, putting them at great risk of climate and food shocks. Climate change disrupts agricultural productivity, leading to crop failures, reduced yields, and changes in the distribution of food-producing regions.

This story based on a scientific study, tells of how climate change is likely to worsen locust outbreaks causing crop losses and famine.


The worst locust swarms in 70 years, caused by the effects of climate change, wreak havoc on food crops and indigenous plant life in Mwingi, Kitui County, Kenya. Photo: Greenpeace

⚠️ Notice the journalist has used a scientific study and interviews to illustrate the link between climate change, locust swarms, crop devastation and famine.

This article focusses on a surge in cases of malnutrition among children as well as the effect on an already overburdened health system. It also explores the connection between drought, violence and the displacement of people.

Watch this video package  by a Vice journalist about the psychological and physical trauma people are enduring in Somalia because of prolonged droughts.

⚠️ It is worthwhile reading or referring to this comprehensive 2023 UNICEF report which has useful, although shocking, statistics including that:

  • 559 million children are exposed to high frequency heatwaves, rising to 2 billion children globally by 2050.
  • Over the six years from 2017 to 2023, there were 43 million internal displacements of children linked to weather-related disasters – the equivalent to approximately 20,000 child displacements a day.

Women and girls are hardest hit 👩🏽‍👧🏽


Credit: UN Photo/Tim Mckulka

Women and girls are part of the vulnerable populations hardest hit by the dual climate – health crisis. Together they represent 20 million of the 26 million people estimated to have been displaced already by climate change, according to Ipas research.

The research in Mozambique and Malawi by the Women’s health rights organisation also found that:

  • Climate change worsens existing gender inequalities, disrupting access to sexual and reproductive health care, and reducing already limited economic opportunities for women.
  • Climate change directly and indirectly affects women’s contraceptive use, fertility intentions, pregnancy outcomes, vulnerability to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), economic roles, and sexual health.
  • The time immediately before, during, and after extreme weather events, such as cyclones, is when access to care for contraception, pregnancy and abortion is most compromised.
  • Pregnant women are particularly at risk due to climate change, facing increased risk of miscarriage, early labour, and complications that could lead to illness, injury or death.
  • Adolescent girls experience increased risk of SGBV, child marriage, early sexual debut and pregnancy.

⚠️ Listen to this excellent podcast on why women are more vulnerable to climate change.  It’s an engaging package, with the voices of women, statistics and facts about the economic hardship women endure.

⚠️ For the photojournalists: take time to scroll through this special CNN report on gender- inequality and climate change. The images are powerful and worth a thousand words.

 Climate Crisis and HIV 🎗️

In 2020 a paper published in the Climate Change journal, using modelling data,  found that climate change will lead to between 11.6 and 16.0 million additional cases of HIV by 2050 as a result of increasing temperatures. This Frontline AIDS report highlights the data from countries in sub-Saharan Africa and is also worth a read.

 Another  study published in the Aids and Behavior journal shows that droughts could potentially increase HIV transmission through increasing poverty and sexual risk behaviours, particularly among women in rural areas. The authors used data on people aged 15–59 from Population-Based HIV Impact Assessment surveys from 2016 in Eswatini, Lesotho, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

This is how a science journalist at Kenya’s The Star wrote about the study.

Joining the dots 🖊️

The WHO graphic above is useful to prepare questions for a story on the indirect impacts of climate change.

Ask yourself:

  • Is there a climate change connection to the events? If there is one, think about how you will make the link for your audience. Check the climate-related hazards listed above to help you.
  • What are the vulnerability factors? Who is the story about? Are they particulary at risk because of poverty, where they live or their gender?
  • Who is exposed to the climate hazard? This could be health staff, food and water systems.
  • What are the health outcomes following exposure to an extreme weather event? It’s essential to report on the health system’s ability to cope with direct and indirect health impacts of climate change. If the health sector is struggling, ask why the government is not strengthening the system?

More resources: