Background
While much is known about heat-related hospitalisations and emergency service demand, limited evidence exists on how hot weather impacts Primary Healthcare (PHC) delivery in remote Australia, where PHC clinics are the first and often only point of medical contact for remote First Nations Communities. This study investigates the impact of hot weather on PHC delivery, and the health and wellbeing of First Nations communities in Central Australia.
Methods
We employed a mixed-methods approach, integrating quantitative analysis of PHC data and temperature with qualitative insights from PHC staff and community members in Central Australia. To understand associations with daily mean temperatures, daily clinic presentation data (2010-2023) from two major health services were analysed using quasi-Poisson generalised linear models and distributed lag non-linear models. Qualitative findings were collected through semi-structured interviews with PHC staff and yarning sessions conducted in four remote First Nations communities. The data were then analysed using a deductive coding approach
Results
Quantitative findings revealed increased PHC presentations at both low and moderately high temperature ranges, with seasonal peaks in autumn and spring. Qualitative data (n=45) indicated that hot weather affected health and well-being and daily activities of residents, their clinic use and PHC staff recruitment and retention. To improve preparedness for increasingly hot weather, staff and community participants recommended introducing heat-health education, investing more in community infrastructure, targeting health promotion programs to suit culture, language, and literacy, and modifying clinic hours to align with community needs.
Conclusion
Findings highlight that as climate change drives rising temperatures, early intervention strategies, infrastructure upgrades, staff climate preparedness, reinforcement of local adaptive knowledge, and co-production of adaptation strategies are critical to ensuring sustainable and equitable healthcare service use and delivery, reducing vulnerabilities, and strengthening resilience to hot weather in remote First Nations communities.

Abstract on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health
This project was supported by the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Indigenous Health Grant. The research objectives were developed based on priorities identified through extensive consultations with two local health services, including the local Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service (ACCHS). Further input was obtained from Aboriginal community members through presentations to local governing boards.
An Aboriginal governance structure guided the project, comprising representatives from the ACCHSs, a local Arrernte lead researcher (Ms Gloria Baliva), and community-based researchers across four communities. The research protocol, particularly for yarning sessions, was reviewed and refined by the lead Aboriginal researcher to ensure cultural relevance. Community-based researchers in each location further tested the protocols for local applicability and cultural appropriateness.
Data collection in remote communities was led by both male and female Aboriginal researchers to maintain cultural sensitivity. All primary health care (PHC) data were accessed, analysed, and interpreted in accordance with established data-sharing agreements with the health services. A validation workshop was conducted in each community, engaging local representatives to confirm culturally appropriate interpretation of the research findings.
Ownership of all community-collected data is acknowledged to reside with the community members, in accordance with Aboriginal data sovereignty principles. This will be reflected in all publications. The research team is also currently co-developing non-traditional research outputs to ensure the findings are communicated back to communities in meaningful and accessible ways.

Background: Climate change worsens global health, with Indigenous children among the most vulnerable. Despite increasing research on climate-related health impacts, Indigenous children’s unique vulnerabilities remain underrepresented. This is the first review to synthesise global evidence systematically on how climate change impacts the health of Indigenous children.
Objectives: We aim to consolidate reported health outcomes directly caused by climate change in Indigenous children globally. We outline research gaps and recommendations to guide future research.
Methods: We adhered to PRISMA guidelines and followed a reflexive framework that considered researcher positionality, Indigenous definitions of health, and ongoing Indigenous engagement. We did a systematic search of four databases was conducted on 2 March 2025. We collaboratively screened eligible studies on climate-related health outcomes in Indigenous children and pregnant women and assessed them using design-specific tools. A convergent integrated synthesis approach mapped exposure–outcome patterns and guided a theme-based narrative analysis. Meta-analysis was not feasible due to study heterogeneity.
Results: Fifty-four studies met inclusion criteria, comprising 28 quantitative, 22 qualitative, and 4 mixed-method designs. Most quantitative studies had very low certainty ratings (62.5%), while most qualitative studies were rated highly certain (57.7%). Five main health outcomes emerged: (i) psychosocial and cultural wellbeing, (ii) malnutrition, (iii) infectious diseases, (iv) perinatal health, and (v) morbidity and mortality. Reflecting the holistic, relational nature of Indigenous health conceptualisations, most studies addressed multiple climate exposures and outcomes. Psychosocial and cultural wellbeing was the most cross-cutting theme, interconnected with all other health domains. Heat exposure and seasonal and hydroclimatic variability were the most frequently linked climate exposures.
Conclusions: Indigenous children across diverse contexts are experiencing adverse climate-related health outcomes. Our review consolidates the evidence base to inform culturally grounded, strengths-based responses that engage Indigenous knowledge systems and younger generations. Advancing this field requires more geographically diverse, disaggregated, and methodologically rigorous research.

OBJECTIVE: The HEAL – Healthy Environments And Lives – National Research Network, aims to strengthen the resilience of the Australian health system and communities to climate change and environmental degradation.
METHODS: This is achieved by building capacity and capability, and stimulating collaborative research that improves our understanding of the interactions between climate, the natural and built environment, and health, and the effectiveness of interventions aiming to mitigate and adapt to environmental change. Importantly, HEAL focuses on Indigenous health equity, and uses participatory action research methods and diverse knowledge systems to assess the effectiveness, co-benefits and unintended consequences of climate change adaptation and mitigation interventions.
RESULTS: The HEAL network has set up Communities of Practice, i.e. local knowledge exchange forums comprising researchers, practitioners, communities and decision-makers, in all Australian states and territories. Informed by stakeholder consultation and an online survey, HEAL has developed an innovative Future Leaders training programme aiming to strengthen key research capabilities, cultural awareness, and influencing skills in environmental public health. The HEAL Future Leaders programme comprises intensive face-to-face training sessions based on problem-based learning methods, policy and data-driven case studies, site visits, and interactive lectures, as well as a series of online webinars on environmental health, epidemiology and public health topics, a seed funding scheme aiming to stimulate new research ideas and collaborations, professional secondments, and a mentoring programme for early and mid-career researchers focusing on research impact and translation into policy and practice.
CONCLUSIONS: There are significant gaps in climate and health research capacity and capability across Australia. Developing research skills in environmental public health tracking, environmental epidemiology, exposure assessment, life cycle analysis, and implementation science requires well-targeted, flexible and inclusive training programs that not only focus on scientific excellence, but also on research translation, cultural awareness, and leadership that embraces First Nations’ knowledge and wisdom.

Anthropogenic climate change globally increases wildfire risk. Understanding how wildfire threats impact community-wide risk perceptions and response options will critically inform education strategies aimed at keeping communities as safe, healthy and resilient as possible. Our study aimed to gain an increased understanding of wildfire risk perceptions and self-evacuation intentions among residents in the highly wildfire-prone state of Tasmania, Australia. In 2023, we co-designed survey questions with stakeholders from local emergency management, health and community recovery services, and delivered a computer-aided telephone interview to survey residents aged over 18 years. Numerical classification analysis, linear regression and descriptive statistics were used to analyse survey data. We identified four archetypes – the ‘immediate leaver’, ‘prepared stayer’, ‘unprepared leaver’ and ‘informed leaver’, each with distinct sociodemographic characteristics. Key variables were gender, age, location and income, with women most likely to leave and lower-income householders from rural areas most likely to stay. Previous wildfire experience and owning a home were significantly associated with increased preparedness actions. When compared to data from the 2016 Tasmanian Population Health Survey, which included the same questions on bushfire threat and leave intention, we found a significant increase in the proportion of residents intending to leave their property, with urban women most likely to leave, and rural men most likely to stay. Recent education campaigns have likely driven increases in wildfire threat-related self-evacuation, yet the existence of distinct archetypes argues for more tailored messaging and education programs. Collaboration with the Tasmanian Fire Service to pilot a targeted education intervention is underway.

Objective: To explore the health impact of climate change over the last two decades in the unique inland areas of Australia – the Australian Capital Territory, and to project future changes under various climate change scenarios.

Study design: Time series design with distributed lag nonlinear model was employed to assess the temperature increases due to the climate change and ED presentations.

Study setting: Population in the Australian Capital Territory over the study period of 2000-2021.

Main outcome measures: Daily ED presentations attributable to non-optimal temperatures in the Australian Capital Territory and further stratified by age group and gender.

Results: A total of 1,442,354 ED presentations occurred during the study period, with 2.49% (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 1.50%–3.44%) of ED presentations attributed to heat exposure and 4.00% (95% CI: 2.75%–5.12%) of ED presentations attributed to cold exposure. Future projections indicated the heat attributable fraction will increase to 2.72% (95% CI: 1.54%–3.92%) and cold attributable fraction will gradually decline to 3.21% (95% CI: 2.20%–4.17%) by middle of this century. Younger age group exhibited highest relative risks (RR) from both heat (RR=1.36; 95% CI: 1.27–1.46) and cold (RR=1.43; 95% CI: 1.33–1.54) over four-week lag, middle age group was particularly sensitive to heat (RR=1.08; 95%CI: 1.05–1.10) within one-week lag, while older adults were most vulnerable to cold (RR=1.08; 95% CI: 1.02–1.14) over two-week lag.

Conclusions: Both heat and cold increased the ED presentations in the inland areas of Australia, with age specific vulnerabilities to temperatures. Future projection indicated increasing health burden due to non-optimal temperatures, driven by increasing heat attributable fraction and declining cold attributable fraction.

Implications for public health: These findings highlight the urgent need for regional-specific climate change adaptation strategies to mitigate the growing health impacts of temperature extremes, protect vulnerable populations, and prepare healthcare systems for projected changes of ED presentations in Australian Capital Territory under future climate conditions.

Aim: To explore the association between outdoor temperature and the risk of all-cause mortality in the UK and Korean populations.
Methods: Two large cohorts’ data were analysed: the UK Biobank (UKB) and the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA). Annual average outdoor temperature over the 12 months prior to enrollment was derived from ERA5 Reanalysis database. In the UKB (n=370,218), temperature ranged from 4.99°C to 9.28°C; while in KLoSA (n=11,174), from 9.80°C to 14.48°C. Temperature was also categorized into quartiles (Q1-Q4). The association between outdoor temperature and all-cause mortality risk (HR (95%CI)) was assessed using Cox regression, adjusted for sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, Charlson Comorbidity Index, and relative humidity. Restricted cubic splines identified optimal temperature point associated with the lowest risk of death.
Results: There were 30,211 (8.2%) and 2,727 (24.4%) cases of death during a median follow-up of 13.8 and 14.0 years in the UKB and KLoSA, respectively. For each 1°C increase, the risk of death decreases by 6.6% in UKB (HR: 0.934, 95% CI: 0.915-0.952) but increases by 5.1% (HR: 1.051, 95% CI: 1.008-1.095) in KLoSA. In UKB, compared to people living in environments with temperature between 5.0°C and 9.3°C (Q1), the risk of mortality was lower in those with outdoor temperature between 10.3°C and 13.0°C (Q4: 0.875 (0.841-0.911)), with the lowest mortality risk observed at 12.65°C. In KLoSA, compared to people living in environments with temperature between 9.8°C and 11.6°C (Q1), the risk of mortality was higher in those with outdoor temperature between 13.3°C and 14.5°C (Q4: 1.197 (1.068-1.343)), with the lowest mortality risk observed at 11.60°C.
Conclusion: Long-term exposure to higher temperatures was inversely associated with mortality in the UK but positively associated in South Korea, underscoring the need for region-specific climate adaptation strategies.

Skin cancer is Australia’s most costly and preventable cancer. Despite this, there has been no national monitoring of sun protection behaviours to assess trends and inform programs since 2016-17. Behavioural monitoring is now more critical than ever, to track skin cancer prevention indicators in a changing climate. This presentation will outline the survey rationale and latest results from the first Australian Sun Protection Behaviours Survey module, highlighting the influence of weather on sun protection behaviour.

The Cancer Council-funded module is contained in the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Multipurpose Household Survey. Data were collected via telephone interviews with >8,000 Australians aged 15+ years from November 2023 to February 2024. Behavioural measures include sunburn, sun exposure, five sun protection behaviours, and attempts to suntan. Skin sensitivity, socio-demographics, and date and location of behaviours were also collected to allow linkage of weather variables (e.g., temperature, ultraviolet (UV) radiation), to investigate individual and contextual predictors of behaviour using regression analysis.

First results show that in the week preceding the survey, 60.6% of Australians aged 15+ years spent more than 15 minutes outdoors during peak UV times, and almost 1.5 million (6.9%) were sunburned. Just over half of those who were outdoors (53.9%) used three or more forms of sun protection (broad brimmed hat, sunscreen, long sleeves, long pants, shade, sunglasses). The presentation will describe the results of additional analyses investigating weather-related and socio-demographic predictors of sun protection behaviours.

The Sun Protection Behaviours Survey provides evidence of recent population-level UV radiation damage in 1 in 15 Australians. Sustained investment in national sun protection behavioural monitoring is needed to identify trends and emerging priorities for skin cancer prevention and climate-related health outcomes. Collecting behavioural data that can link to weather will ‘future-proof’ the survey in the context of Australia’s geographically diverse and changing climatic conditions.