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

This is an ongoing project led by NatCen International in collaboration with the University of Bristol, and partners based in Vietnam, Social Life Research Institute and Institute for Development and Community Health "Light".

Focus

Precarious outdoor workers in urban areas of the Global South are one of the groups most exposed to the impacts of climate change. But the impact is thinly understood and policies to address such exposure under-developed.

This project explores the (in)visible vulnerabilities and multiple health exposures of these workers in Vietnam, a lower-middle income country (LMIC) experiencing rapid urbanisation and with a large informal sector. 

Focus on street venders, riders and porters and construction workers in Hanoi (in the North), Da Nang (Central), Ho Chi Minh City (South) and Can Tho (Mekong Delta Region).

Outputs

• Working paper from findings of systematic reviews
• Policy Papers for the 4 city governments and government ministries (health, climate, labour)
• Ethnographic documentary film and video diaries
• GIS-integrated Workers Health App
• Annual Green Books
• Research website
• Policy Toolkit
• 4x journal articles to international peer-reviewed journals
• 2x journal articles to Vietnamese national journals

Events

• Academic forum in the UK
• Health Climate Policy Lab Launch Event
• COP29
• UN Asia-Pacific High-Level Political Forum 2025

Timeline

• 22 Jan 2024 – June 2026 (30 months)

Partners

• SocialLife Research Institute
• Institute for Development and Community Health ‘LIGHT’ & Vietnamese Medical Association (VMA)
• University of Bristol