Climate change and child development: an integrative literature review

Background: Climate change is a significant challenge in the 21st century, and its consequences can significantly impact child health and well-being. Objective: To map the scientific evidence on the impact of climate change on child health and development. Methods: A search was carried out between March 2023 and June 2023 using the databases of MEDLINE Complete, CINAHL Complete, PubMed, and Scopus, as well as grey literature. The search strategy was appropriate to each source in a process made independent of identification, screening, analysis, and inclusion. The two reviewers solved the disagreements. Results: A total of 18 articles were included in the review. Eight areas of assessment were considered to group the results found regarding climate change in the impact on child and youth health. The results considered the consequential implications of various changes such as increased temperature, atmospheric pollution, use of fossil fuels, periods of drought, vector transmissions, long-term effects, socioeconomic factors, psychological effects and policies to promote health and mitigate the advances of climate change. Conclusions: There is growing concern about climate change’s effect on children’s health and its impact on their development. It is crucial to adopt health policies that are based on sustainable development.