title: Climate change, cash transfers and health.
abstract: The forecast consequences of climate change on human health are profound, especially in low- and middle-income countries and among the most disadvantaged populations. Innovative policy tools are needed to address the adverse health effects of climate change. Cash transfers are established policy tools for protecting population health before, during and after climate-related disasters. For example, the Ethiopian Productive Safety Net Programme provides cash transfers to reduce food insecurity resulting from droughts. We propose extending cash transfer interventions to more proactive measures to improve health in the context of climate change. We identify promising cash transfer schemes that could be used to prevent the adverse health consequences of climatic hazards. Cash transfers for using emission-free, active modes of transport - e.g. cash for cycling to work - could prevent future adverse health consequences by contributing to climate change mitigation and, at the same time, improving current population health. Another example is cash transfers provided to communities that decide to move to areas in which their lives and health are not threatened by climatic disasters. More research on such interventions is needed to ensure that they are effective, ethical, equitable and cost-effective.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington, PO Box 7343, Wellington, New Zealand .
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pega
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington, PO Box 7343, Wellington, New Zealand .
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.affiliation: United Nations Children's Fund, New York, United States of America (USA).
authors.forename: Kumanan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rasanathan
authors.affiliation: United Nations Children's Fund, New York, United States of America (USA).
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yablonski
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, USA .
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kawachi
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington, PO Box 7343, Wellington, New Zealand .
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hales
mesh_terms: D057231:Climate Change / Q000191:economics*; D003906:Developing Countries; D037921:Gift Giving; D015438:Health Behavior; D006291:Health Policy / Q000191:economics*; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans