Ghana has identified the health impacts of climate change as a national research priority. Yet current control strategies for major climate-sensitive diseases do not incorporate climate information, and the capacity for risk prediction remains limited.

In this Wellcome funded project, led by David Dosoo at the Kintampo Health Research Centre, we are generating climate-integrated local prediction models to identify high-risk areas for action by policymakers and communities. Our work is organized around three priorities set by the Government of Ghana:

• Malaria — building a climate-informed forecasting and decision-support dashboard to guide interventions such as bed-net distribution, indoor residual spraying, and vaccination campaigns.
• Meningitis — using existing surveillance and cohort data to define how temperature and humidity drive outbreak risk, informing the timing of vaccination and epidemic preparedness.
• Mycotoxin food contamination — an emerging climate threat, which we are assessing through year-round sampling of maize and groundnuts to establish prevalence and climate sensitivity.

Alongside the modeling, we are engaging actively with government bodies, civil-society organizations, and affected communities to ensure the tools are co-designed, locally relevant, and embedded existing Ghana Health Service systems. The ultimate objective of this work is to improve the ability of systems in Ghana to manage of climate-sensitive disease.