Connecting Climate Variations and Health Outcomes (Invited Presentation)

The breadth and depth of both climate variations and health outcomes is enormous.  Despite the considerable complexity of both, however, there are clearly identifiable linkages between them.   A fundamental and practical question is to what extent, and on what spatial and temporal scales, such linkages can be anticipated.  This talk will address some of the overlaps between climate and health by first examining some implications of large scale climate variations occurring on seasonal to interannual time scales, the prototypical example being the El Nino-Southern Oscillation phenomenon or ENSO.  Important regional scale climate variations relating to changes in sea surface temperatures on seasonal time scales will then be considered, emphasizing the use of climate indices to identify them.  Finally, distinguishing between decadal scale climate variations and long-term climate change will be discussed with a focus on Eastern Africa and malaria.  The availability and use of new climate datasets in this latter context will be described.