Vanuatu Research and Climate Change Agenda

Climate change is a major driver of poor health worldwide. This is because it makes issues such as extreme weather, food and water insecurity, shifting disease patterns and mental health worse.

Research into these challenges is urgent. But it must be done in a way that protects communities, promotes justice, and delivers practical solutions.

The World Health Organization is addressing this with its project on ethical climate and health research. This is a 3-year global initiative focused on strengthening how research on climate change and health is conducted.

The Vanuatu Research and Climate Change Agenda project is part of this WHO initiative.

Vanuatu’s exposure to climate change

The Pacific island country of Vanuatu is amongst the most vulnerable nations to natural disasters and the impacts of climate change.

Vanuatu consists of 83 islands, 65 of them inhabited, and spans over 12,000 square kilometres. Three-quarters of the population of 320,000 live in rural, geographically isolated areas. Approximately one-third are aged under 15 years old.

Hazards include droughts, floods, extreme temperatures, earthquakes, tsunamis and cyclones. Vanuatu has 9 active volcanoes and is estimated to experience 20 to 30 cyclones per decade. In 2023 alone, Vanuatu experienced two category 4 and two category 2 cyclones, 243 earthquakes of magnitudes above 4, and four volcanic eruptions.

A health research agenda for Vanuatu

Health research agendas are necessary to ensure that research conducted in low- or middle-income countries:

addresses a country’s own research requirements
is prioritised based on resources, capacity and need.

Health research agendas can help support research that maximises public health impact and drives health equity.

The necessity for health research agendas is even more pressing in small Pacific island countries such as Vanuatu. This is due to the rapidly increasing global focus on climate change and health, and the limited workforce whose time should be prioritised for involvement in research activities with the highest potential impact.

Project aim

The aim of this project is to support the Vanuatu Ministry of Health to develop its first National Climate Change and Health Research Agenda. This will provide strategic direction and priorities for research and action and ensure that effort and resources are aligned with regional and national research priorities.

In 2025, Burnet will work with the Vanuatu Ministry of Health and hold a series of consultations to develop the first Vanuatu Climate Change and Health Research Agenda.