Climate variability and change data and information for global public health

Abstract

Using climate data correctly is a critically important challenge that underpins robust science and decision making about the health effects of climate change. Researchers in this interdisciplinary field must be informed enough to ask the right questions, to find and understand the right data that ultimately provide scientifically sound information to help people make the right decision. This requires active recognition of the need to really understand the caveats and best uses of a particular dataset or product. Some more widely used data and products such as those developed for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change may have well-defined tutorials and use parameters. In most cases, however, it is wiser to find the owner or originator of the data, and work with them to ensure appropriate use of the data and therefore robust scientific findings that inform decisions and move this interdisciplinary field forward in both science and policy contexts.