Safeguarding the Caribbean's future: making the case to research the direct and indirect impacts of climate change on youth mental health and wellbeing

Jaclyn Holdsworth; Shelly-Ann Hunte; Kershelle Barker; Jonathan Sherin; Mala Rao; Sandeep B Maharaj

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1322831

Safeguarding the Caribbean's future: making the case to research the direct and indirect impacts of climate change on youth mental health and wellbeing

Front Public Health. 2023 Dec 13:11:1322831. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1322831. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Jaclyn Holdsworth¹, Shelly-Ann Hunte², Kershelle Barker³, Jonathan Sherin⁴, Mala Rao⁵, Sandeep B Maharaj⁶

Affiliations

¹ Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Program, McMaster Health Forum, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
² Caribbean Centre for Health Systems Research and Development, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago.
³ Evidence Synthesis, Caribbean Centre for Health Systems Research and Development, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago.
⁴ Healthy Brains Global Initiative, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
⁵ Ethnicity and Health Unit, Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
⁶ School of Pharmacy, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago.

Abstract

This article makes a call for attention to paid on the development of a research agenda for studying the impact of climatic events on youth mental health in the Caribbean. It details the climate injustices that the region faces and the potential mental health problem which can arise from climatic events. It makes a call for interdisciplinary research and a multi stakeholder approach to dealing with this potential issue.

Keywords: Caribbean; Small Island Developing States; climate change; mental health; youth.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Caribbean Region
Climate Change*
Ethnicity
Humans
Mental Health*
West Indies

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.