Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Public Health
Healthcare professionals at the frontline of Climate Change: knowledge, attitudes, and practices
Published: 2026-09-04
Subjects: Public Health
Healthcare professionals (HCPs), as trusted cadre of community, play a crucial role advocating climate action to reduce its impact on health. This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, practices and perceived responsibilities (KAPP), associated factors, of healthcare providers in Karachi, Pakistan, regarding climate change and its associated health effects. We conducted a [...]
A qualitative content analysis of wildfire smoke preparedness and response plans in the United States and Canada
Published: 2026-08-29
Subjects: Public Health
Wildfires in North America have become more frequent and intense in recent years. This increase can be attributed to climate change, which has led to higher temperatures and altered precipitation patterns, creating conditions that favor wildfires. In addition, human activities, such as land development, forest management practices, and the ignition of fires, further contribute to the rising [...]
Global Power Outage Detection at the Kilometer Scale from Satellite Nighttime Lights
Published: 2026-08-28
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Human Geography, Nature and Society Relations, Power and Energy, Public Health, Remote Sensing
Satellite nighttime light observations show great promise for remote sensing of power outages, yet have only been utilized in limited case studies to date. Here, we present generalized detection of power outages across the globe at ~1-kilometer resolution. Our method, the Outage frameWork for Luminosity Interruptions (OWL-I), reveals the power outages can be reliably detected from VIIRS/Black [...]
Maternal and neonatal vulnerability in a flood-prone area: a mixed-methods study in Agbétiko canton, Togo
Published: 2026-08-27
Subjects: Public Health
Flooding is increasingly recognised as a determinant of maternal and neonatal health in low-resource settings, yet the mechanisms by which it disrupts access to obstetric care remain poorly documented in West Africa. This mixed-methods study examined whether the flood season constitutes a period of heightened vulnerability for obstetric care access in the rural canton of Agbétiko, Togo. A [...]
Green home-based dialysis and sustainability: A Scoping Review
Published: 2026-08-12
Subjects: Public Health, Rehabilitation and Therapy
Background Climate change is among the foremost threats to global health, and the healthcare sector is itself a substantial source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Dialysis is one of the most resource- and carbon-intensive treatments in medicine, and homebased modalities have been proposed as a more sustainable alternative to in-centre care. Despite growing interest, the empirical evidence on [...]
A multisectoral data integration framework and geospatial visualisation for last-mile heat-health decision making: A pilot deployment study in Rajasthan, India
Published: 2026-07-10
Subjects: Public Health
Adaptation for extreme heat depends on identifying and responding to populations most vulnerable to heat-related illnesses. Yet, in many low- and middle-income countries the data needed to assess vulnerability remains fragmented across disconnected information systems. As a result, frontline health officials plan their response strategies using limited, underreported, and retrospective [...]
Impacts of short-term weather on communicable enteric infectious diseases in western Europe: A case study of the Republic of Ireland, 2009–2020
Published: 2026-06-05
Subjects: Public Health
The incidence of sporadic enteric infections at temperate latitudes, including much of western Europe, vary seasonally, and as such are forecasted to shift in response to global climate changes. Understanding the associations between weather patterns and infection incidence is crucial to focus future surveillance efforts and minimise disease transmission. Accordingly, the relationship between [...]
"A valid mixture of anxiety, despair, rage, grief": Canadian clinician perspectives on climate-related extreme weather impacts and mental health
Published: 2026-06-03
Subjects: Public Health
Climate change has been increasingly recognized as a determinant of mental health, yet limited research has examined how mental health care systems and clinicians are perceiving and responding to the impacts. This study explores the experiences of clinicians supporting people with mental health conditions in relation to climate change and extreme weather events (EWEs). We conducted a [...]
Building a climate resilient health system: Lessons from Health National Adaptation Planning (H-NAP) in Uganda
Published: 2026-04-30
Subjects: Public Health
Climate change is increasingly affecting both health and the systems required to deliver care, particularly in low-resource settings. In response, Uganda developed its Health National Adaptation Plan (H-NAP) 2025–2030 to guide climate change adaptation in the health sector. However, limited analytical attention has been paid to how low-resource countries are developing and institutionalising [...]
Prevalence and associated factors of microbial water quality from drinking water in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis study
Published: 2026-04-16
Subjects: Public Health
Introduction Drinking water contamination is a worldwide problem and causes a major public health threat, with most water contamination prevalent in developing countries, including Ethiopia. There is no pooled overall prevalence of fecal coliform contamination and its contributing factors in drinking water in Ethiopia. Method The review was conducted under the Preferred Reporting Items for [...]
Association Between Coastal Water Exposure and Urinary Tract Infection in Adult Females
Published: 2026-04-15
Subjects: Public Health
Gastrointestinal illness is a known risk of swimming in coastal waters which are contaminated by sewer overflows, septic tanks, domestic pets, or wildlife. Limited research has assessed the risk of urinary tract infections (UTIs) from recreating in coastal waters, even though they are an established reservoir of UTI pathogens. We performed a prospective study of beachgoers in Santa Cruz, [...]
Poor environmental conditions, food and water insecurity, neighborhood perceptions, and self-reported physical and mental health in four disadvantaged urban communities in Salvador, Brazil: a cross-sectional study.
Published: 2026-04-03
Subjects: Public Health
Emerging evidence suggests an association between environmental conditions and mental well-being. While the physical health impacts of environmental exposures such as contaminated drinking water or open sewers are well-documented with respect to the spread of infectious diseases, the mental health implications of these poor environmental conditions and exposures are less well understood, [...]
No place to hide? Regional resilience and vulnerability to global catastrophic risk
Published: 2026-03-27
Subjects: Agriculture, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Food Science, Forest Sciences, Geography, Public Health
What places on Earth are most resilient to global catastrophic risk (GCR)? We provide the first study of what locations are more resilient against the impacts of nuclear war, near-Earth objects, large-magnitude volcanic eruptions, large-scale cyberattacks, high altitude electromagnetic pulse, geomagnetic storms and pandemics. This shows there is no place on Earth which is resilient against all [...]
Characterizing the interrelationships of commonly used water measures
Published: 2026-03-18
Subjects: Public Health
There are numerous commonly used measures of household water access that capture various dimensions of the household water experience, but it is unclear if individual variables are complementary, redundant, or uniquely informative. We characterized how measures of household water access are statistically and conceptually interrelated. Using data collected from 861 households in Beira, Mozambique [...]
Causal Effects of Climatic and Socioeconomic Drivers on Antimicrobial Resistance
Published: 2026-03-11
Subjects: Climate, Environmental Sciences, Public Health
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a rapidly escalating global health crisis threatening human, animal, and environmental well-being. While its spread is often linked to antibiotic use, the complex, nonlinear nature of its environmental and socioeconomic drivers remains poorly understood, rendering traditional analyses insufficient. This study moves beyond simple correlation to investigate the [...]