Maternal health

Flooding events are becoming increasingly common and severe due to climate change. Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to these impacts, experiencing adverse physical and mental health outcomes.

Dr Samuel Adjorlolo from the University of Ghana and Dr Amanda Mason-Jones from the University of York will investigate the impact of flood events on maternal health in two coastal cities, Accra and Kingston upon Hull. They will integrate information from multiple levels of the system to inform future risk mitigation strategies.

The team will implement this project through four linked worked packages. They will initially scope global literature on maternal health and experiences of flood events. They will then interview pregnant women at the time of flood events in Accra and Hull, documenting their experiences and adaptation and mitigation strategies for accessing health and other services.

To understand how floods might affect pregnancy outcomes, the researchers will subsequently use routine data from Ghana to compare antenatal care, delivery and postnatal wellbeing for people living in flooded and non-flooded areas. All of this information will be used to develop a flood-health access vulnerability model, building on geographical information systems to predict future flood risks and vulnerabilities.

This project will contribute to an interdisciplinary, systems-thinking approach to addressing flood events that impact maternal health. The researchers aim to ultimately support the development of flood-resilient healthcare systems that foster better maternal health outcomes.