title: The public health impacts of climate change in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
abstract: Projected climatic changes for the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia for the period 2025-2100 will be most intense in the warmest period of the year with more frequent and more intense heat-waves, droughts and flood events compared with the period 1961-1990. The country has examined their vulnerabilities to climate change and many public health impacts have been projected. A variety of qualitative and quantitative methodologies were used in the assessment: literature reviews, interviews, focus groups, time series and regression analysis, damage and adaptation cost estimation, and scenario-based assessment. Policies and interventions to minimize the risks and development of long-term adaptation strategies have been explored. The generation of a robust evidence base and the development of stakeholder engagement have been used to support the development of an adaptation strategy and to promote adaptive capacity by improving the resilience of public health systems to climate change. Climate change adaptation has been established as a priority within existing national policy instruments. The lessons learnt from the process are applicable to countries considering how best to improve adaptive capacity and resilience of health systems to climate variability and its associated impacts.
authors.affiliation: WHO Regional Office for Europe, WHO European Centre for Environment and Health, Platz der Vereinten Nationen 1, Bonn 53113, Germany. kendrovskiv@who.int.
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kendrovski
authors.affiliation: WHO Regional Office for Europe, WHO Country Office, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Drezdenska 22, Skopje 1000, Macedonia. msp@euro.who.int.
authors.forename: Margarita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Spasenovska
authors.affiliation: WHO Regional Office for Europe, WHO European Centre for Environment and Health, Platz der Vereinten Nationen 1, Bonn 53113, Germany. menneb@ecehbonn.euro.who.int.
authors.forename: Bettina
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Menne
mesh_terms: D057231:Climate Change; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D011634:Public Health; D036301:Qualitative Research; D018843:Republic of North Macedonia; D018570:Risk Assessment