Illustrative: a block model of a city with water rising and falling through its streets, a heat island over its core, or the city growing

Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium · Course catalogue · Health and Society

Environmental and One Health

Climate and health

Climate and health, taught twice over: as the working methods of the field and as its frontier since 2024, with labs on the Academy's tools, open data and the Nexus Standards.

Core course Frontier course

The discipline

01Core course · L2 Intermediate

Climate and health: foundations and practice

This area brings together the health effects of climate change as one field: heat, extreme events, air quality and wildfire smoke, vector-borne and water-borne disease, food and nutrition, mental health and the resilience of health systems.

Level
L2 Intermediate
Study time
about 24 hours (planning estimate)
Status
Planned
Prerequisites
An L1 course in the area, or an entry review

Why now

Heat-related mortality attribution is now quantified across hundreds of cities, the Lancet Countdown reports health indicators each year, and dengue reached record case counts in 2024, so climate and health are studied as one risk chain. Nature Climate Change, The burden of heat-related mortality attributable to recent human-induced climate change (Vicedo-Cabrera et al.), 2021

Learning outcomes

  1. Define heat-health warning system and the other key terms of the discipline and use them correctly in a written case
  2. Explain heat and health: mortality, work and heat action plans and extreme events and health system disruption with a worked example and its source
  3. Apply the discipline's method to a documented case and explain each result with its source
  4. Analyse a named case against air quality and wildfire smoke, stating evidence, date and limits

Modules

  1. Heat and health: mortality, work and heat action plans
    • Heat and health: mortality, work and heat action plans
    • Extreme events and health system disruption
    • Air quality and wildfire smoke
  2. Vector-borne disease and climate suitability
    • Vector-borne disease and climate suitability
    • Water-borne disease and sanitation
    • Food security, nutrition and climate
  3. Climate and mental health
    • Climate and mental health
    • Climate-resilient and low-carbon health systems
    • Health co-benefits of mitigation
  4. Lab: the discipline's method
    • Daily deaths rise above a minimum-mortality temperature by a stated percentage per degree; multiplying that excess by the baseline death rate and the days above threshold gives heat-attributable mortality, and the threshold at which a city issues a warning is a choice made on that curve.
    • Work the method through a documented case and explain each result
    • Read the method's sources and stated values

Labs with Academy tools

Open data

Assessment

  • 40%Lab recordWork the discipline's method through a documented case and explain each result with its source and date
  • 40%Case memoApply the discipline's methods to a named place or organisation, stating evidence and limits
  • 20%Key terms checkShort answers on the key terms, marked against the definitions

Delivery

  • Self-paced online, with the labs in the browser
  • Cohort study over six to eight weeks, with a weekly lab review
  • Co-delivered with a partner institution, inside its own courses

Partner on this course

  • Co-teach a module and bring a current case from your work
  • Host a cohort for your learners, with your own schedule and review
  • Contribute a lab: a dataset your institution publishes openly, or a model
  • Review the course content and its references before it opens
  • Translate the course and adapt its cases to your region

How institutions and experts take part

In the Academy LMS

Course on the learning platform
Intermediate, 4 topics
Cohort group
A community group for each cohort of learners
Achievement
Recorded on completion of the assessed work

References

  1. Gasparrini and others, Mortality risk attributable to high and low ambient temperature: a multicountry observational study, 2015
  2. Vicedo-Cabrera and others, The burden of heat-related mortality attributable to recent human-induced climate change, 2021
  3. Romanello and others, The 2023 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change, 2023
02Live map

Environmental exposure in India

Haze, nitrogen dioxide, dust, surface heat by day and night, and where people live, over India.

The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.

Layers 2

Environmental exposure

Latest available

NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth

Loading the latest NASA imagery.

Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.

Environmental exposure, framed on India.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.

Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONETSources and licences

  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • MODIS and VIIRS atmosphere products, NASA LANCE and LAADS DAAC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • OMI nitrogen dioxide (Aura) and OMPS aerosol index (Suomi NPP), NASA; distributed by the NASA GES DISC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • MERRA-2 reanalysis, NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office; distributed by the NASA GES DISC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
  • NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), VIIRS 375 m active fire product, NASA LANCE; vector tiles via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
  • Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
  • © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
  • Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
  • Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
  • Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
  • NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
  • Air quality forecast, 5 days, PM2.5 (CAMS via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information 2026.
  • Past year, daily temperature (ERA5 via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
  • Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
  • Optional layers (12 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.

Layers and dates

  • Aerosol optical depth, daily: VIIRS NOAA-20 Deep Blue AOD, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
  • Land surface temperature, day, 8-day composite: VIIRS NOAA-20 Level 3, 8-day, NASA LANCE · 14 Sep 2026
  • Nitrogen dioxide, lower atmosphere column: OMI Aura, NASA GES DISC · 10 Oct 2026
  • Surface dust PM2.5, monthly mean: MERRA-2, NASA GMAO / GES DISC · July 2026
  • Land surface temperature, night, 8-day composite: VIIRS NOAA-20 Level 3, 8-day, NASA LANCE · 14 Sep 2026
  • Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
  • Active fires and thermal anomalies: VIIRS NOAA-20 375 m (FIRMS), NASA LANCE FIRMS · 13 Oct 2026
  • Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026

03How learning runs

How learning runs, as a process you can run

Select a scenario and press Play: course, pathway, practice, faculty, cells and record.

04What is changing

What is changing, with standards and evidence

Climate and health: frontier methods

The methods, data, tools and studies that changed climate and health between 2024 and 2026, taught by reproducing them on open data.

Level
L3 Advanced
Study time
about 28 hours (planning estimate)
Status
Planned
Prerequisites
Climate and health: foundations and practice; Working knowledge of a scripting language (Python or R) for the labs

Why now

Heat-related mortality attribution is now quantified across hundreds of cities, the Lancet Countdown reports health indicators each year, and dengue reached record case counts in 2024, so climate and health are studied as one risk chain. Nature Climate Change, The burden of heat-related mortality attributable to recent human-induced climate change (Vicedo-Cabrera et al.), 2021

Learning outcomes

  1. Explain what changed in climate and health since 2024 and cite the studies, data or rules behind each change
  2. Reproduce heat and health on open data and state the uncertainty of the result
  3. Evaluate a 2024 to 2026 study: its question, data, method, limits and what it changes for practice
  4. Design an analysis that combines a frontier method with the faculty's instruments, and justify each choice

Modules

  1. Heat and health
    • Distributed lag non-linear models of temperature and mortality
    • Heat-health warning systems and action plans
    • Attribution of heat deaths to climate change
  2. Climate-sensitive infections
    • Vector suitability for dengue, malaria and chikungunya
    • Seasonal climate forecasts for disease early warning
    • Water- and food-borne disease after floods
  3. Health system adaptation
    • Climate-resilient health facilities
    • Indicators and tracking
    • Co-benefits of mitigation
  4. Reproduction lab
    • Extend the discipline's method with one frontier method and compare its results
    • State the uncertainty and the limits of the result
    • Peer review against a shared checklist
  5. Technology that helps and the risks it carries
    • AI-assisted diagnostics, genomic surveillance and digital health.
    • Ransomware in hospitals, AI medical device risk, biosecurity and neurotechnology.

Labs with Academy tools

Open data

Assessment

  • 50%Method reproductionReproduce one frontier method on open data and state the uncertainty of the result
  • 30%Study reviewA critical review of a 2024 to 2026 study: question, data, method, limits, what it changes
  • 20%Peer reviewReview two other learners' reproductions against a shared checklist

Delivery

  • Self-paced online, with the labs in the browser
  • Cohort study over six to eight weeks, with a weekly lab review
  • Co-delivered with a partner institution, inside its own courses

Partner on this course

  • Co-teach a module and bring a current case from your work
  • Host a cohort for your learners, with your own schedule and review
  • Contribute a lab: a dataset your institution publishes openly, or a model
  • Review the course content and its references before it opens
  • Translate the course and adapt its cases to your region

How institutions and experts take part

In the Academy LMS

Course on the learning platform
Expert, 5 topics
Cohort group
A community group for each cohort of learners
Achievement
Recorded on completion of the assessed work

References

  1. Nature Climate Change, The burden of heat-related mortality attributable to recent human-induced climate change (Vicedo-Cabrera et al.), 2021
  2. Statistics in Medicine, Distributed lag non-linear models (Gasparrini, Armstrong, Kenward), 2010
  3. Global Heat Health Information Network, Heat-health resources, 2025
  4. Gasparrini and others, Mortality risk attributable to high and low ambient temperature: a multicountry observational study, 2015
  5. Romanello and others, The 2023 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change, 2023
05Take part

Take part in the work

Start from who you are.

06Questions

Questions, answers and key terms

Is the course free?
Yes. Every course and learning material of Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium, is free to study, self-paced or with a cohort. Ordinary participation has no fee; paid work, internships and fellowships are separate arrangements.
What does completing a course give me?
A completion record: the course, its version, the date and what was assessed, private by default and shared by you. It stacks into discipline, department and programme achievements. A record states what was studied and assessed and does not certify competence; it is not a licence, a professional title or an employment status.
Where do the data and the places come from?
Every faculty teaches on a twin of a real place built from open data; each layer carries its provider, licence and date, and every result on the Academy states its source. Maps and figures are indicators for teaching, never an assessment of a place.
How do I take part beyond the course?
Form a competence cell of three to seven people, study a shared pathway, take a supervised assignment in the National Working Groups, or bring a cohort from your institution. For organisations.

Key terms

Term

Heat-health warning system

A system that issues alerts when forecast temperatures are expected to raise health risk, linked to protective actions.

Term

Wet bulb globe temperature

A heat stress index that combines temperature, humidity, wind and radiation, used for work and sport.

Term

Vectorial capacity

The potential of a vector population to transmit a pathogen, which depends on temperature and other conditions.

Term

Health co-benefit

A health gain that results from a climate mitigation measure, such as cleaner air from less combustion.

ReportsContribute

Contribute evidence from this page.

Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.

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