West Africa has been among the most rapidly changing regions of the world in recent years, and is forecast to be perhaps the most dynamic region globally over the next few decades at least. Population growth in West Africa will be unmatched, land-use including deforestation and agricultural expansion is correspondingly high, internal and international migration is high, urbanisation and growth of cities is rapid, biodiversity and ecosystem service loss is accelerating, and climatic changes (in particular heating and sea level rise) are more rapid and potentially impactful than in many other regions. Many existing health exposures and upstream drivers of ill health are therefore increasing, many simultaneously, and new health threats are emerging.
In response, and with high level support from the British High Commission in the Gambia, UNDP, WHO and the Children’s Investment Fund as well as key political figures including the Ministers for Health and Environment in The Gambia, the Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine brought environment and health researchers from across the region together for the continent’s first international conference in Planetary Health.
The aim of the Research Topic is to build upon the agenda established at the 2020 Planetary Health Conference held in The Gambia. The conference aimed to showcase local evidence, support emerging researchers and engage with local policy makers and stakeholders in order to highlight the urgent actions that are required to safeguard the health of people and the planet in West Africa. This facilitated an emerging research community to enhance collaborative networks, take stock of existing research, horizon scan and prioritise future research directions.
Here, we invite contributions from the conference participants and the wider community alike to formalise and develop these outputs and activities further. Contributions are also invited from authors or research foci beyond the West Africa region, where important research results and insights could be applied to stimulate new collaborations, ideas and research directions both in the region and more widely.
Contributions must fit the remit of the Planetary Health subsection of Frontiers in Public Health. Specific topics could include, but are not restricted to:
• Nutrition, food security and food systems (inc. fisheries and agriculture)
• Land-use and land-use change
• Pollution (air, plastic, water, soil etc)
• Climate change
• Impacts of extreme heat
• Disaster risk and risk reduction
• Nature Based Solutions
• Sustainable cities, villages and urbanization
• Ecosystem services / disservices
• Biodiversity loss
• Education, Policy, Advocacy
and their links to human health (both communicable and non-communicable disease), wellbeing and sustainable livelihoods.
Keywords: planetary health, africa, biodiversity, sustainability, pollution
Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
