Stephen Kovat

Biographic Data

ID1167830
NAMEStephen Kovat
GIVEN NAMESStephen
FAMILY NAMEKovat
SIGNATUREKOVAT S
AFFILIATIONSLondon School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
ORCID0000-0002-4823-8099
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS53
TOTAL CITATIONS116
AUTHOR COUNT53
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR1996
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX7

  • Effects of hydro-meteorological and geological disasters on vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks and routine immunisation amongst children

    Open AccessIsabel T Barnidge, Andrêa J F Ferreira et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2026

    Hydro-meteorological and geological disasters can pose serious harm to community health, such as an increased risk of infectious diseases and related mortality. We conducted a scoping review to compile the available literature on the effects of hydro-meteorological and geological disasters on routine immunisation and vaccine-preventable disease (VPD) outbreaks among children and adolescents under 18 years. We searched Medline, Embase, Global Heal…

  • Climate change, disability, and water, sanitation and hygiene

    Open AccessJane Wilbur, Stephen Kovat et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2025

    Climate hazards, including extreme weather events, undermine essential water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services, exacerbating health disparities in people with disabilities. Despite this, WASH policies and adaptation strategies often overlook the need for disability inclusive measures. The scoping review objectives are to 1) map the evidence on how climate risks affect WASH services and coping strategies in low-and middle-income countries, w…

  • The implementation gap

    Open AccessAmanda Quintana, Lucy Gilson et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2025

    As temperatures rise due to climate change, so do adverse health effects. In response, many countries, including South Africa, have developed heat health action plans to address these threats to public health. In the Western Cape province, increasing heat events necessitate a well-coordinated response across governance levels and sectors. Understanding how heat risks are governed, particularly at subnational and local levels, is critical for safe…

  • Priority climate and health modelling needs

    Open AccessKristie L Ebi, Peng Bi et al.ARTICLEThe Lancet Planetary Health2025

    Climate and health modelling is necessary for improving understanding of the current and future distribution and timing of climate-related health risks. However, underinvestment in this area has limited the understanding required to inform policies that enable multisectoral interventions to safeguard health. We synthesised insights from a survey of 65 global climate and health modelling experts and 36 participants in a hybrid meeting to identify …

  • Reducing extreme heat impacts on health in pregnant women and infants

    Open AccessAdelaide Lusambili, F Scorgie et al.ARTICLEHealth Policy and Planning2025References: 27

    High ambient temperatures affect maternal and newborn health outcomes and wellbeing. The Climate Heat and Maternal and Neonatal Health in Africa (CHAMNHA) consortium conducted formative qualitative research in rural Kilifi, Kenya, to examine perceptions of heat risks among women, household members, and community stakeholders. An intervention was co-designed together with community members. This paper presents the development, implementation, and …

  • Intervention co-design to reduce the impact of heat exposure on pregnant and postpartum women and newborns in Burkina Faso

    Open AccessKadidiatou Kadio, Mariam Congo et al.ARTICLEHealth Policy and Planning2025References: 26

    Interventions are needed to reduce the impact of heat on the health and wellbeing of women and newborns in Burkina Faso where seasonal temperatures can be extremely high. In this article, we share our experience and lessons learned from co-designing an intervention to improve maternal and neonatal health, about heat in a rural and an urban district of Burkina Faso. We performed community engagement and a series of workshops with 49 community memb…

  • Extreme heat, pregnancy and women’s well-being in Burkina Faso

    Open AccessKadidiatou Kadio, Véronique Filippi et al.ARTICLEBMJ Global Health2024

    Climate change is an increasing threat to the health of populations in Africa, with a shift in seasonal temperatures towards more extreme heat exposures. In Burkina Faso, like other countries in the Sahel, many women have little protection against exposure to high temperatures, either outside or inside the home or place of work. This paper investigates how women perceive the impacts of heat on their physical and mental health, in addition to thei…

  • Climate change, air pollution and maternal and newborn health

    Open AccessFrancesca Conway, Andrey Portela et al.ARTICLEJournal of Global Health2024

    Background: Climate change represents a fundamental threat to human health, with pregnant women and newborns being more susceptible than other populations. In this review, we aimed to describe the current landscape of available epidemiological evidence on key climate risks on maternal and newborn health (MNH). Methods: We sought to identify published systematic and scoping reviews investigating the impact of different climate hazards and air poll…

  • A story of (in)coherence

    Open AccessAmanda Quintana, Susannah H Mayhew et al.ARTICLEHealth Policy and Planning2024

    Climate adaptation strengthens and builds the resilience of health systems to future climate-related shocks. Adaptation strategies and policies are necessary tools for governments to address the long-term impacts of climate change and enable the health system to respond to current impacts such as extreme weather events. Since 2011 South Africa has national climate change policies and adaptation strategies, yet there is uncertainty about: how thes…

  • Coping strategies for household water insecurity in rural Gambia, mediating factors in the relationship between weather, water and health

    Open AccessIndira Bose, Robert Dreibelbis et al.ARTICLEBMC Public Health2024

    To reduce the risks to health, interventions need to address the drivers of water insecurity to reduce the need for these risky coping behaviours. In the short term, the promotion of behavioural adaptations that can help buffer health risks, such as water treatment, may be beneficial

  • Process and outputs from a community codesign workshop on reducing impact of heat exposure on pregnant and postpartum women and newborns in Kilifi, Kenya

    Open AccessAdelaide Lusambili, Peter Khaemba et al.ARTICLEFrontiers in Public Health2023

    Background: Ambient heat exposure is increasing due to climate change and is known to affect the health of pregnant and postpartum women, and their newborns. Evidence for the effectiveness of interventions to prevent heat health outcomes in east Africa is limited. Codesigning and integrating local-indigenous and conventional knowledge is essential to develop effective adaptation to climate change. Methods: Following qualitative research on heat i…

  • "Mothers get really exhausted!" The lived experience of pregnancy in extreme heat

    Open AccessF Scorgie, Adelaide Lusambili et al.ARTICLESocial Science & Medicine2023Cited by: 4References: 38

    Heat exposure in pregnancy is associated with a range of adverse health and wellbeing outcomes, yet research on the lived experience of pregnancy in high temperatures is lacking. We conducted qualitative research in 2021 in two communities in rural Kilifi County, Kenya, a tropical savannah area currently experiencing severe drought. Pregnant and postpartum women, their male spouses and mothers-in-law, community health volunteers, and local health…

  • Factors associated with older adults' perception of health risks of hot and cold weather event exposure

    Open AccessPriyanjali Ratwatte, Helena Wehling et al.ARTICLEFrontiers in Public Health2022

    Introduction: Hot and cold weather events are increasingly becoming a global burden resulting in premature and preventable morbidity and mortality, particularly in vulnerable groups such as older people and people with chronic health conditions. However, risk perception regarding weather is generally poor among vulnerable groups which often acts as a barrier to the uptake of critical health-protective behaviours. A more cohesive understanding of …

  • Past and projected climate change impacts on heat-related child mortality in Africa

    Open AccessSarah Chapman, Cyril Birch et al.ARTICLEEnvironmental Research Letters2022

    Children (<5 years) are highly vulnerable during hot weather due to their reduced ability to thermoregulate. There has been limited quantification of the burden of climate change on health in sub-Saharan Africa, in part due to a lack of evidence on the impacts of weather extremes on mortality and morbidity. Using a linear threshold model of the relationship between daily temperature and child mortality, we estimated the impact of climate change o…

  • Heatwave Mortality in Summer 2020 in England

    Open AccessRoss Thompson, Owen Landeg et al.ARTICLEInternational Journal of…2022

    High ambient temperatures pose a significant risk to health. This study investigates the heatwave mortality in the summer of 2020 during the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and related countermeasures. The heatwaves in 2020 caused more deaths than have been reported since the Heatwave Plan for England was introduced in 2004. The total and cause-specific mortality in 2020 was compared to previous heatwave events in England. The findings…

  • Reducing the health effects of hot weather and heat extremes

    Open AccessOllie Jay, Anthony Capon et al.ARTICLEThe Lancet2021

  • The English National Cohort Study of Flooding & Health

    Open AccessRanya Mulchandani, Ben Armstrong et al.ARTICLEBMC Public Health2020

    Flooding can have severe long-lasting consequences on mental health in affected populations. If these problems are not identified and treated early, they may persist for years. Further research is necessary to develop and evaluate interventions to increase resilience in at risk populations and to ensure timely access to support services following flooding

  • The English National Cohort Study of Flooding and Health

    Open AccessDaiga Jermacane, Thomas D Waite et al.ARTICLEBMC Public Health2018

    This study shows a continuance of probable psychological morbidity at least two years following exposure to flooding. Commissioners and providers of health and social care services should be aware that the increased need in populations may be prolonged. Efforts to resolve persistent damage to homes may reduce the risk of probable psychological morbidity

  • The Lancet Countdown

    Open AccessNick Watts, W Neil Adger et al.ARTICLEThe Lancet2017

  • Perceptions of Health Co-Benefits in Relation to Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions

    Open AccessJinghong Gao, Guozhang Xu et al.ARTICLEInternational Journal of…2017

    Limited information is available on the perceptions of stakeholders concerning the health co-benefits of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of urban residents on the health co-benefits involving GHG abatement and related influencing factors in three cities in China. Beijing, Ningbo and Guangzhou were selected for this survey. Participants were recruited from randomly chosen commi…

  • The English national cohort study of flooding and health

    Open AccessThomas D Waite, Katerina Chaintarli et al.ARTICLEBMC Public Health2017

    This study provides an insight into the impact of flooding on mental health, suggesting that the impacts of flooding are large, prolonged and extend beyond just those whose homes are flooded

  • The Impact of Heatwaves on Community Morbidity and Healthcare Usage

    Open AccessSue Smith, Alex J Elliot et al.ARTICLEInternational Journal of…2016

    We investigated the impact of a moderate heatwave on a range of presenting morbidities in England. Asthma, difficulty breathing, cerebrovascular accident, and cardiovascular symptoms were analysed using general practitioner in hours (GPIH), out of hours (GPOOH) and emergency department (ED) syndromic surveillance systems. Data were stratified by age group and compared between a heatwave year (2013) and non-heatwave years (2012, 2014). Incidence r…

  • Estimating the burden of heat illness in England during the 2013 summer heatwave using syndromic surveillance

    Open AccessSue Smith, Alex J Elliot et al.ARTICLEJournal of Epidemiology and…2016References: 30

    BACKGROUND: The burden of heat illness on health systems is not well described in the UK. Although the UK generally experiences mild summers, the frequency and intensity of hot weather is likely to increase due to climate change, particularly in Southern England. We investigated the impact of the moderate heatwave in 2013 on primary care and emergency department (ED) visits using syndromic surveillance data in England. METHODS: General practition…

  • Heat protection behaviour in the UK

    Open AccessSwarna Khare, Shakoor Hajat et al.ARTICLEBMC Public Health2015

    Our study has found a high level of awareness of the actions to take during heatwaves in the UK, and has identified important demographic indicators of sections of the UK population that might benefit from additional or more targeted information. The health agencies should attempt to provide better information about heatwaves to those vulnerable (elderly, those at risk living in London, low income earners) or identify any barriers that might be p…

  • Climate and health in informal urban settlements

    Open AccessNoah Scovronick, Simon J Lloyd et al.ARTICLEEnvironment and Urbanization2015Cited by: 3References: 2

    Urban populations living in informal settlements are inherently vulnerable to climate change, as informal settlements are characterized by overcrowding, poor-quality housing, lack of basic infrastructure, and poverty. Nevertheless, evidence of the associations among weather or climate and health in these populations is lacking, which severely constrains the design of climate change and disaster risk reduction adaptation strategies. To help fill t…