2/2 GeoHealth Hub for Climate Change and Health in the Middle East and North Africa-U.S.

Abstract
Climate change is a well-documented reality that is impacting planet earth and its inhabitants. The health impacts
of climate change have been studied in terms of heat wave, air pollution, spread of vectors of infectious diseases,
and extreme weather events of flooding, drought, wildfires, as well as mental illnesses. One of the regions that
will be impacted most from climate change is the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Yet, there is very limited
understanding of the human health impacts, the possible policies and interventions to address them, and most
importantly limited capacity in research of such policies and interventions. Through this proposal we will establish
the GeoHealth Hub for Climate Change Health Impacts in MENA through its two components: The U01 research
component (1/2 GeoHealth Hub for Climate Change and Health in the Middle East and North Africa-
Jordan) and the U2R training component. The research and training will take place in Jordan, Lebanon, and
Morocco. The climate relevant areas of research will focus on heat waves, precipitation and water quality, air
pollution, and desert dust pollution. Cost-effectiveness analyses of environmental health policies will be
determined to quantify health benefits from interventions through economic models and then informing local
governments through dissemination and implementation science. These will be linked to the U2R GeoHealth
Hub training application titled “2/2 GeoHealth Hub for Climate Change and Health in the Middle East and
North Africa-U.S. The training program will focus on creating a cadre of local experts in one or more of the
areas of environmental health in the scope of the U01. The U2R training will build on the ongoing R25 training
grant between the two collaborating academic institutions in Jordan (Jordan University of Science and
Technology-JUST) and the U.S. (University of California San Diego) (2R25TW010026-06A1). We have
assembled an exceptional team of collaborators from the top institutions led by the University of California San
Diego and with UC Berkeley, and Harvard University, as well as support of the U.S. CDC. This will be
complemented by partnership in the MENA represented by the Jordan University of Science and Technology in
Jordan, University of Balamand in Lebanon, Mohamed VI University for Health Sciences in Morocco, and the
WHO Regional Eastern Mediterranean Center for Environmental Health Action located in Amman, Jordan. The
training program will include short term didactics in the form of summer courses, workshops, U.S visits, and
virtual webinars to build individual capacity building. We will build institutional capacity through the addition of
tracks in environmental health to existing masters and PhD programs. We will also have mentored one-on-one
research training on work related to the U01 aims. We will also aim to influence overall awareness about climate
change health impacts among the general health and policy professional community through an annual regional
conference to showcase the hub. This will be a sustainable state-of-art hub to inform policy makers about the
health risks of climate change and the first of its kind to fill in a major gap in this region.

Grant Number: 5U2RTW012228-04
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: WAEL AL-DELAIMY