Health impacts of climate change on children and adolescents: A protocol for review of reviews

INTRODUCTION: Climate change is a contemporary phenomenon of grave concern to global public health. Climate change events such as droughts, wildfires, tornadoes, heatwaves, floods, sea level rise, hurricanes, tropical cyclones, landslides, extreme rainfall, typhoons, dust storms, and desertification significantly affect local, regional, and global living conditions. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the most disturbing of these are desertification, droughts, and floods, which directly threaten water supplies, food security, and the livelihoods of millions of people. The climate crisis affects the health of older people, adults, children, and adolescents. However, climate-related events are gravely affecting the current and future health and well-being of children and adolescents. Although evidence exists, its integration is vital for policy and practice to protect children and adolescents in the ever-changing climate. Therefore, this review aims to map the existing reviews of the impact of climate change on the health and well-being of children and adolescents. METHOD: This review will be conducted according to Arksey and O'Malley's [36] recommendations and will be reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). Scopus, JSTOR, Web of Science, PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library will be searched to identify relevant records for inclusion in this review. Additional searches will be conducted in Google Scholar and Google for other relevant articles. The review protocol is registered at Open Science Framework: (https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/A7DEQ). ANALYSIS: Extracted data will be analysed using thematic content analysis, where data are summarised and qualitatively synthesized according to the recommendations of PRISMA-ScR and Tricco et al. [37]. The results and findings regarding the impacts of climate change on the health and safety of children and adolescents will be compiled, categorized, and presented using a qualitative narrative synthesis.