Climate Change and Digital Health

The Climate Change and Digital Health stream aims to respond to the health impact of climate change using digital technology. Managing data during health crises can be complex; digital health is a central solution to enable healthcare systems to respond efficiently. The research within this stream can be divided into two distinct activities:

Digital health responses to the health consequence of climate change

With extreme climate events on the rise, health systems are increasingly required to respond to the physical and mental health impacts of these repeated weather events or the disruption in regular operations. The environmental consequences of climate change, from climatic variability to extreme weather events, can all impact human health. This could be through exacerbating existing health issues or changing the range and severity of health events such as infectious disease outbreaks. Our research examines digital health solutions for these health issues as well as for facilitating healthcare access during climate change disruption.

Digital health for a net zero health system

Health systems are a major source of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions, accounting for 5% of the total global figure for GHG emissions. Digital health can be central in advancing low-carbon solutions by optimising energy use and assisting health experts with planning. Digital health itself contributes to emissions if it relies on non-renewable energy to run server farms for cloud computing. This contribution was about 1% of global energy use in 2018. Identifying the net emission cost of digital health is necessary to develop practical solutions to minimise the impact.

For more information or to join our team

Contact Professor Enrico Coiera: enrico.coiera@mq.edu.au

Team members

Selected stream projects

• A comprehensive review of existing science around digital health's role in responding to the cause and consequences of climate change.
• Examining lessons learnt from Covid-19 healthcare responses to inform our response to future health crises.
  • A comprehensive review of how digital health supported the pandemic response
  • Examining how the health system responded to the pandemic through innovation
  • Learning from digital solutions that worked and did not work during the pandemic
• Observatory on the Future of Healthcare (OFOH)

Recent publications

• Digital health for climate change mitigation and response: a scoping review | Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association | Oxford Academic (oup.com)
• What did you do to avoid the climate disaster? A call to arms for health informatics | Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association | Oxford Academic (oup.com)
• Book chapter of ‘Digital health solutions to climate change crisis’ under the process of publication by Taylor and Francis Group

Collaborators

Macquarie University - NHMRC Partnership Centre for Health System Sustainability (mq.edu)

We welcome researchers, clinicians, information technologists, and students sharing the same passion for a net-zero mission in real-world health systems.