Floods, health and climate change, a strategic review

Working paper 63

The objectives of this report are: to present findings from a wide-ranging review of global literature on health impacts, adaptation processes and policies relating to flood risk; to make a critical assessment of the existing knowledge base and identify key opportunities and challenges for intervention and research; to assess the implications of climate change and future flood risk for health impacts, adaptation processes and policies. Following preliminary discussion of global flood risk issues (chapter 2), the main sections of the report comprise an epidemiological review of the evidence base for health outcomes of flooding (chapter 3) and a review of literature analysing mechanisms of response to health risks from floods (chapter 4). Though the scope of the report is global, the material discussed in these sections is fairly narrow in thematic focus: the intention has been to maximise the added value of the work by concentrating as closely as possible on issues connected with health and flooding. The final section (chapter 5) then discusses the key findings in the wider contexts of social differentiation, development, hazard management, climate change and adaptation.