Abstract (by author) > Farid BOUMEDIENE

Farid BOUMEDIENE is a geo-epidemiologist. His Geography PhD focused on geographic information systems, geostatistics and public decision support. After 10 years in the GEOLAB laboratory (CNRS), he refocused his research on the epidemiology of chronic non-communicable diseases and strategies for optimizing access to healthcare in low- and middle-income countries in the tropical area, as part of the EpiMaCT team (INSERM, IRD, INRAE) since 2011. He defended his "Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches" on the contribution of geo-epidemiology to community and population based studies in 2020. He is the co-author of over 100  publications, 8 book chapters and has co-directed 15 doctorates. After extensive work in South-East Asia and West Africa, for the past 4 years he has been concentrating his research on the insular Indian Ocean.

9:00 am - A preamble (session 1)

 Eco-Anxiety: an emerging mental condition ... and worrying?

This talk will open the day on eco-anxiety, a mental condition that has emerged in recent decades in sync with the realization that global warming is inevitable. Characterized by the international press as the “ailment of the century” impacting the mental health of millions (billions?) of people, eco-anxiety is defined as anguish linked to the uncertainty of the future caused by climate change and the global inaction of decision-making spheres. It is characterized by the manifestation of several anxiety disorders, vectors of worsening mental health for people already suffering from psychiatric or psychological pathologies, but also for people suffering from other types of chronic non-transmissible diseases. Eco-anxiety is therefore a vague and general anxiety linked to past, present and future climatic events. A recent study carried out in 10 countries (published in The Lancet Planetary Health), showed that it affected women more than men, urban than rural, and above all that young people (aged 16 to 25) were particularly concerned.

At the end of his talk, the speaker will propose an anonymized evaluation test to participants, and comment live on the group's level of eco-anxiety. Individual evaluations (anonymized through the use of pseudonyms) will be available to participants before the end of the day.

9:45 am - Introduction to the symposium

Climate and NCDs : a few meteorological and epidemiological details to gauge the public health stakes in the island Indianocean

The aim of this introductory lecture is to highlight the specific features of the island Indianocean region for the day's discussions on the theme of “Climate change and non-communicable diseases”. Firstly, the speaker will summarize the key messages recently published by meteorological experts who have worked in the region, and publications by internationally recognized institutions (GIEC report, Nature publications, etc.). The outlook for the coming years/decades (frequency and intensity of cyclones and periods of deadly heat waves, water deficit and impact on agri-food resources, etc.) will be set against known health risks, particularly in tropical territories.

Secondly, a number of recent literature reviews (carried out worldwide) will be mobilized to draw up a state of the art on the link between the evolution of these indicators and climatic events, the epidemiology of non-communicable diseases and difficulties of access (or continuity of access) to healthcare.

Finally, the Global Burden Diseases and a number of original studies (recently published) will help to clarify the public health issues at stake, with particular emphasis on the particularities of the regional island Indianoceania, both studied and yet to be studied.