Dr Stefano Moncada, Director of the Islands and Small States Institute (ISSI), and Co-Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Health Systems and Policies in Small States, presented the project “Beyond Pandemics: Improving climate resilience and health systems in small island states” at the Australian National University on 5 December 2022.
The project received the Research Excellence Award in December 2021, financed by the University of Malta’s Internal Research Grants Programme, and started in March 2022. “Beyond Pandemics” employs a mixed-methods approach to assess health systems in the two small island states of Malta and Mauritius, investigating factors capable of increasing both climate and health resilience.
Dr Moncada, supported by Mr Luca Nguyen (the research officer working on the project) presented initial results from the systematic literature review and the focus groups with health and climate experts, conducted in Malta. The presentation highlighted the importance of addressing health and climate crises with a synergistic approach. The preliminary results show that the existing body of knowledge fails to address climate and health crises jointly, especially in small islands, and that policies fail to create synergies that would help adopt a coordinated approach to the two crises, which often have common root causes.
The audience was composed of academic staff, Master and PhD students from different departments of the ANU, as well as members of public authorities. The next steps of the project, while primary data via household surveys is being collected in Malta and Mauritius, will be to analyse the data and proceed with academic conferences, publications and policy reports.