Objectives

The health impacts of climate change on precarious outdoor workers in urban megacities in Vietnam.

This Wellcome Trust funded project is led by NatCen International in collaboration with the University of Bristol, and with key partners in Vietnam: the SocialLife Research Institute, the Vietnam Medical Association and the Institute for Development and Community Health "Light". 

This project is funded by the Wellcome Trust as part of their prestigious Climate Impact Awards. To find out more about the award, see the press release here.

Focus

This research project investigates the vulnerabilities and multiple health risks faced by outdoor workers in urban areas of Vietnam, as well as their adaptation strategies in response to climate change. 

Our work goes beyond generating new evidence; we are dedicated to ensuring that our research leads to practical, actionable outcomes. From the very beginning, we have engaged policymakers and workers in every step of our research to ensure that our findings translate into actionable recommendations—prioritising health in climate adaptation and policymaking.

Aims

Given Vietnam’s significant informal labour sector, this project will co-create a new evidence base through multi-stakeholder collaboration, addressing critical knowledge gaps about the vulnerabilities and health risks of outdoor urban workers.

This project aims to bridge knowledge gaps and empower policymakers to take informed, health-focused action to address the climate-related challenges faced by urban outdoor workers in Vietnam.

RQ1. How do climate change-linked hazards and shocks affect the health of informal outdoor workers in urban megacities in Vietnam? What health risks are most prevalent among these workers? How do these effects intersect with societal vulnerabilities, such as gender, age, migrant status, and ethnicity?

RQ2. How are the impacts of climate change deepening existing socio-economic vulnerabilities and exclusions of these groups?

RQ3. What are the coping strategies and adaptive capacities of these groups? How does the state assist in building resilience and supporting these coping strategies?

RQ4. What climate actions (structurally, inter-sectorally) should be prioritized to reduce the health risks faced by urban outdoor informal workers? What policy interventions can help achieve a health-centered approach to climate change responses at various levels of government (city, national, regional, and global)? 

Street vendor crossing street in Vietnam

Project outputs

The project, underpinned by equitable partnerships with local partners and worker communities, includes the following, but is not limited to:

  • A systematic review of existing literature in English and Vietnamese languages
  • Survey of four key occupational groups—street vendors, drivers, porters, and construction workers—to assess their exposure to climate-related health risks
  • Conducting in-depth interviews with informal outdoor workers to understand the health impacts of climate change
  • Applying a participatory vulnerability analysis approach to decentralise data collection
  • Develop ICAN (Intelligent Climate Alert Network for Outdoor workers) (i.e. "Workers' Health" early warning system - a mobile app)  and a Policy Toolkit for health-centered climate change adaptation and resilience
  • Use this knowledge to co-produce actionable insights for policy development

The ICAN App

Find out more

Project team

Find out more about the team leading this project with key partners in Vietnam.

Reports

Policy briefs, working papers and other research reports.

Events

Information about upcoming events and materials from past events.

Photo library

Explore photos from our fieldwork in Vietnam.