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Review
. 2024 Jul 17;11(7):231602.
doi: 10.1098/rsos.231602. eCollection 2024 Jul.

Climate change and health in the Sahel: a systematic review

Daniel Acosta  1   2   3 , Amadou Barrow  4 , Idrissa Saidou Mahamadou  5 , Victoria Simoni Assuncao  6 , Mary E Edwards  7 , Sarah L McKune  1   2   3
Affiliations
Review

Climate change and health in the Sahel: a systematic review

Daniel Acosta et al. R Soc Open Sci. .

Abstract

The Sahel region is projected to be highly impacted by the more frequent hazards associated with climate change, including increased temperature, drought and flooding. This systematic review examined the evidence for climate change-related health consequences in the Sahel. The databases used were Medline (PubMed), Embase (Ovid), Web of Science (Clarivate) and CABI Global Health. Hand searches were also conducted, which included directly engaging Sahelian researchers and hand-searching in the African Journals Online database. Of the 4153 studies found, 893 were identified as duplicates and the remaining 3260 studies were screened (title and abstract only) and then assessed for eligibility. A total of 81 studies were included in the systematic review. Most studies focused on vector-borne diseases, food security, nutrition and heat-related stress. Findings suggest that mosquito distribution will shift under different climate scenarios, but this relationship will not be linear with temperature, as there are other variables to consider. Food insecurity, stunting (chronic malnutrition) and heat-related mortality are likely to increase if no action is taken owing to the projected impact of climate change on environmental factors and agriculture. Seventy-one per cent of manuscripts (n = 58) had first authors from institutions in North America or Europe, of which 39.7% (n = 23) included co-authors from African institutions.

Keywords: Sahel; West Africa; climate change; food security; nutrition; vector-borne diseases.

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Conflict of interest statement

We declare we have no competing interests.

Figures

PRISMA diagram.
Figure 1.
PRISMA diagram.
Number of studies per country.
Figure 2.
Number of studies per country.
Distribution of authorship affiliations in African institutions.
Figure 3.
Distribution of authorship affiliations in African institutions.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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