• Energy Research

Climate change is a major threat to global health. Its effects on physical health are increasingly recognised, but mental health impacts have received less attention. The mental health effects of climate change can be through direct (resulting from personal exposure to acute and chronic climatic changes), indirect (via the impact on various socioeconomic, political, and environmental determinants of mental health) and overarching impacts (via knowledge, education and awareness of climate change). These impacts are unequally distributed according to long-standing structural inequities which are exacerbated by climate change. We outline key concepts and pathways through which climate change may affect mental health and explore the responses to climate change at different levels, from emotions to politics, to highlight the need for multilevel action. We provide a broad reference to help guide researchers, practitioners and policymakers in the use and understanding of different terms in this rapidly growing interdisciplinary field.

Working in Africa provides neuroscientists with opportunities that are not available in other continents. Populations in this region exhibit the greatest genetic diversity; they live in ecosystems with diverse flora and fauna; and they face unique stresses to brain health, including child brain health and development, due to high levels of traumatic brain injury and diseases endemic to the region. However, the neuroscience community in Africa has yet to reach its full potential. In this article we report the outcomes from a series of meetings at which the African neuroscience community came together to identify barriers and opportunities, and to discuss ways forward. This exercise resulted in the identification of six domains of distinction in African neuroscience: the diverse DNA of African populations; diverse flora, fauna and ecosystems for comparative research; child brain health and development; the impact of climate change on mental and neurological health; access to clinical populations with important conditions less prevalent in the global North; and resourcefulness in the reuse and adaption of existing technologies and resources to answer new questions. The article also outlines plans to advance the field of neuroscience in Africa in order to unlock the potential of African neuroscientists to address regional and global mental health and neurological problems.