Grant: Project Grant

Global climate change is causing temperatures to rise and leading to more frequent and intense heatwaves. Heat may impact on mental health and cognitive wellbeing by affecting our surroundings, how we live, and our safety. Children may be particularly vulnerable because their brains are still developing, and they are less able to protect themselves from heat. Exposures to heat and their affects on child mental health and cognition are poorly understood, especially in the places most affected by extreme heat and climate change like sub-Saharan Africa. Our international team of researchers and practitioners will combine our knowledge and work closely with local communities to better understand how heat affects child mental health in Accra, Ghana. We selected this site because it is highly vulnerable to heatwaves and extreme heat, has high (93%) primary school completion rates, and we have well-established collaborations with over 100 schools and the extensive research infrastructure and data required for high-quality studies of environmental risks and health. We will work alongside leading climate and child health advocates, health and school workers, and community members to understand people's experiences with heat and heat mitigation, the mechanisms through which heat can impact child mental health and cognition in our study context, and possible interventions. We will leverage our spatially-resolved measurements of outdoor temperatures for a repeated measures study to assess how heat affects the mental health and cognition in primary school children. This research will provide researchers and decision-makers with new information about how heat affects child development and potential strategies to prevent or minimize these impacts. It will benefit vulnerable communities, like those living in poverty, by providing valuable information about how to adapt to changing climate conditions and protect children's mental wellbeing and healthy development.