Abstracts - Posters

Morbidity/Mortality Study, Perceptions and Adaptation Strategies for Health and Climate Change In Quebec

Bernard Doyon¹, Diane Bélanger and Pierre Gosselin
¹Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ)
bernard.doyon@inspq.qc.ca

Climate change will influence the health and well-being of the population in Canada, particularly in areas or for individuals already vulnerable in other respects. This situation is a serious public health concern, especially since much of the knowledge in this field is often fragmented. To partially compensate for these gaps, the following three studies have been initiated in Quebec, within the framework of the National Assessment of Climate Change Impacts coordinated by Health Canada:

1. The study of hospital morbidity and mortality according to meteorological parameters (over the last 20 years) by cities and by climate regions, with the help of generalized additive models to take potential confounding into account;
2. A survey of climate change vulnerabilities in the general population, including socio-demographic characteristics, health status, lodging, and certain perceptions toward various suggestions for addressing these vulnerabilities;
3. A qualitative study among municipal and health system officials, on perceptions of climate change and adaptation measures to implement in order to counter certain expected impacts in the medium and long terms.

These studies will result in suggestions for interventions that can be taken to reduce – or at least to mitigate – the harmful impacts of climate change on the health and well-being of Quebec's population, and, by extension, Canada's population, and will contribute to a report by the Canadian government to the United Nations expected for the end of 2006 in accordance with the Kyoto Accord.

2005-04-06