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Climate change exacerbates the risks associated with climate-sensitive infectious diseases (CSIDs) that have pandemic potential, posing additional threats to already vulnerable populations. Currently, there are critical evidence gaps and inadequate institutional and governance arrangements further impact on Africa’s ability to prepare for CSIDs. Our objective is to explore the role of economic evaluation and data-systems to support CSID knowledge generation and priority-setting in Sub-Saharan Africa.
We have extended an existing pandemic preparedness framework to incorporate economic and data-systems themes across four stages: prevention, detection, response, and evaluation. A rapid scoping review to identify existing knowledge and relevant gaps in economic evaluation and data-systems will be supplemented by a parallel stakeholder consultation on CSID emergence and pandemic risk. We adopted a list of 14 target CSIDs with pandemic potential informed by pathogens declared as Public Health Emergencies of International Concern and listed on the WHO’s R&D Blueprint Pathogens to identify relevant studies. Results will be synthesized using bibliometric analysis, thematic topic categorization, and narrative synthesis. A stakeholder mapping exercise identified 50 regional stakeholders from the government, research institutions, donors, and civil service organisations that will be invited to respond to an online questionnaire and attend a semi-structured interview to consolidate key knowledge gaps. Following this, a regional in-person expert consultation will help to prioritise key themes. Throughout, a gender intersectionality approach will help to identify entry points for addressing CSIDs.
At present, a total of 7,328 articles have been identified from five databases and primary screening methods yielded 2,232 abstracts on target CSIDs, these will undergo final screening and data extraction to identify evidence gaps mapped to the conceptual framework. Findings will be used to inform evidence-based policies, guide funding allocations, and shape interventions to enhance health outcomes for vulnerable populations facing the dual challenges of climate change and infectious diseases.