June 2024: Digital Health Innovations Tackling the Climate Crisis

What Did You Do to Avoid the Climate Disaster? A Call to Arms for Health Informatics
Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 2022
Enrico Coiera et al.
This editorial discusses the role of health informatics professionals and digital health solutions in mitigating climate change and responding to its health effects.

Key Takeaways:

1. As the healthcare sector contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions, health informatics must focus on sustainability, integrating climate resilience into the design and implementation of information systems. 
2. Engaging health informaticians in climate action and developing standardized frameworks to evaluate the carbon footprint of digital health interventions are crucial for effective response and adaptation.

Comment from the Center for Global Digital Health Innovation: This editorial effectively highlights the critical intersection between health informatics and the climate crisis. The call for immediate action and the integration of sustainability into digital health solutions is timely and necessary. Future studies should focus on the development and real-world evaluation of digital health interventions aimed at reducing the healthcare sector’s carbon footprint. It must also be noted that data storage is also causing environmental harm primarily through the substantial energy consumption required to power and cool data centers, leading to significant greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, there is a need for collaborative efforts to create resilient health systems capable of withstanding climate-induced disruptions like flooding, power outages, etc. 

Assessing the Potentials of Digitalization as a Tool for Climate Change Adaptation and Sustainable Development in Urban Centres
Sustainable Cities and Society, 2020
Abdul-Lateef Balogun et al.

This study explores how digitalization can serve as a tool for climate change adaptation and sustainable development in urban centers. It analyzes current trends in the digital revolution, particularly in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0), through nine case studies from cities across various continents.

Key Takeaways:

1. Enhanced Early Warning Systems: Digitalization improves the effectiveness of early warning systems for climate-induced hazards, as seen in Maputo, Mozambique, and Surat, India, enhancing emergency response and risk management.
2. Agricultural and Power Infrastructure: AI tools like the Agricultural Production Systems Simulator aid in sustainable agricultural planning for food security, while digital smart grids in Europe enhance power infrastructure resilience and efficiency.
3. Citizen Engagement and Challenges: Digital platforms facilitate better data sharing and public engagement in climate adaptation. Overcoming barriers such as limited digital literacy and data privacy concerns is crucial to fully leverage digitalization's benefits in urban climate adaptation.

Comment from the Center for Global Digital Health Innovation: This study underscores the critical role of digitalization in enhancing urban resilience and adaptation to climate change. The comprehensive analysis and diverse case studies provide valuable insights into practical applications of digital tools. Future research should focus on real-world evaluations of these digital interventions, ensuring that they are accessible and effective in diverse urban settings. Additionally, it is crucial to address the challenges of digital literacy and infrastructure resilience to maximize the benefits of digitalization in climate change adaptation efforts.

Advancing Women’s Participation in Climate Action Through Digital Health Literacy: Gaps and Opportunities
Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 2022
Robab Abdolkhani et al.

This paper explores how empowering women through digital health literacy can support their active participation in addressing climate crisis risks and health impacts. The authors highlight the intersection of digital and environmental health literacy, focusing on gaps and opportunities to enhance women's roles in climate action.

Key Takeaways:

1. Integrating digital health literacy with environmental health literacy equips women to respond to climate-linked health risks and advocate for climate justice. Initiatives like the global online toolkit by the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society, the Gender Climate Tracker app, and networks such as Seed Mob and 1 Million Women exemplify how digital tools promote female leadership and climate advocacy.
2. Increasing education, awareness, and representation of women in decision-making processes is crucial for effective climate action. Emphasizing the development of culturally safe digital health interventions further supports this goal.

Comment from the Center for Global Digital Health Innovation: This article effectively underscores the importance of digital health literacy in empowering women to participate in climate action. The comprehensive analysis of the intersection between digital health and environmental health literacy is particularly valuable. Future studies should focus on developing and evaluating digital health interventions that are accessible and effective for diverse populations. Addressing the digital divide and enhancing digital literacy among women, especially in low-resource settings, will be crucial for maximizing the impact of these initiatives.

Feasibility, acceptability and validation of wearable devices for climate change and health research in the low-resource contexts of Burkina Faso and Kenya: Study protocol
PLOS ONE, 2021 
Sandra Barteit et al.

This validation study investigates the use of consumer-grade wearable devices to monitor health indicators in Burkina Faso and Kenya, assessing their feasibility, acceptability, and validity compared to gold-standard devices. Over a year, wearable measurements will help evaluate the impact of weather on behavior and health, with continuous monitoring by newly installed weather stations.

Key Takeaways:

1. The study aims to assess the reliability and long-term potential of wearable devices for health monitoring and their viability for studying climate change impacts on health in low-resource settings.
2. Participants from HDSS sites in Burkina Faso and Kenya will use consumer-grade devices to measure vital signs, with data synchronization supported by portable solar panels and smartphones, highlighting the devices' practicality in extreme environments.

Comments from the Center for Global Digital Health Innovation:

The study's focus on consumer-grade wearables in low-resource contexts is a promising step toward democratizing health monitoring technology. The integration of wearable data with environmental data could provide valuable insights into the health impacts of climate change, particularly in vulnerable populations. Future studies should aim to expand the range of health indicators monitored and explore the long-term sustainability and scalability of such interventions. Further, addressing potential technological and infrastructural challenges in data collection and analysis will be crucial for broader application.

Telemedicine and the Environment: Life Cycle Environmental Emissions from In-Person and Virtual Clinic Visits
npj Digital Medicine, 2023
Cassandra L. Thiel et al.

This study assesses the environmental impact of in-person versus virtual clinic visits using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach, analyzing data from Stanford Health Care (SHC) from 2019 to 2021 to determine greenhouse gas emissions and evaluate telemedicine's potential to reduce healthcare's carbon footprint.

Key Takeaways:

1. Between 2019-2021, SHC saw a 13% increase in total clinic visits but a 36% reduction in GHG emissions due to telemedicine, with virtual visits in 2021 avoiding approximately 17,000 metric tons of GHG emissions compared to in-person visits.
2. The study found that in-person visits emitted significantly more CO2 than virtual visits (20 kg CO2e vs. 0.02 kg CO2e for phone-based and 0.04 kg CO2e for video visits), and the mode of patient travel had the largest impact on emissions, with air travel contributing more than car travel.

Comment from the Center for Global Digital Health Innovation: This study provides compelling evidence that telemedicine can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of healthcare services. The comprehensive LCA approach highlights the importance of considering various factors, including patient travel and clinic energy use, in evaluating the environmental impact of healthcare delivery. Future research should focus on optimizing telemedicine adoption across different medical specialties and developing guidelines to maximize the environmental benefits of virtual care. Additionally, addressing barriers to telehealth implementation, such as technology access and patient comfort with virtual visits, will be crucial for broader adoption and sustained environmental impact reduction.