FAQ & About

The SAMRC Climate Change & Health Surveillance Platform is a decision-support tool developed by the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) to monitor and analyse the relationship between climate variability and population health outcomes across South Africa.

The platform integrates health surveillance data from the National Department of Health (NDOH) with meteorological data from the South African Weather Service (SAWS) to support early warning systems, evidence-based policy, and targeted public health interventions for climate-sensitive health conditions.

Key Objectives

• Track climate-sensitive health indicators across all nine South African provinces
• Visualise spatial and temporal patterns of health outcomes alongside climate variability
• Provide early warning of extreme weather events and their potential health impacts
• Support resource allocation for primary healthcare facilities and outreach teams
• Inform climate adaptation strategies for the health sector

Health Data

Health indicators are sourced from the National Department of Health (NDOH) through the District Health Information System (DHIS). This includes:

• School Health Screening data from the Integrated School Health Programme (ISHP)
• Nutritional surveillance data (underweight rates, severe acute malnutrition)
• Diarrhoeal disease incidence
• Emergency medical services performance data
• Maternal health indicators

Weather & Climate Data

Meteorological data is sourced from the South African Weather Service (SAWS) and supplemented with the Open-Meteo API for real-time conditions:

• Temperature data (mean, maximum, minimum)
• Rainfall/precipitation measurements
• Wind speed and direction
• Relative humidity
• Historical extreme weather events (1991-2024), including 2,686 recorded events

Facility Data

Ideal Clinic assessment data from the NDOH's Ideal Clinic Realisation and Maintenance programme, and Ward-Based Primary Healthcare Outreach Team (WBPHCOT) deployment data from provincial health departments.

Climate variability affects human health through multiple pathways. The platform monitors these linkages:

Map Visualisation

The geospatial map displays data at the provincial level using colour-coded circle markers. Marker size reflects the magnitude of the selected indicator, and colour indicates severity:

Time-Series Charts

Line and bar charts display health indicator trends over time (2001-2024). The trend direction arrow indicates whether the most recent value has increased or decreased compared to the previous period. A downward trend for disease indicators (e.g., underweight rate) is generally positive.

Weather Event Visualisations

Historical weather events are displayed as categorised markers on the map, colour-coded by event type (storm, flood, fire, drought, etc.). The time-series bar chart shows annual event frequency with a 3-year moving average trend line. Events can be filtered by year range, province, and category.

Colour coding is used consistently across the platform to indicate severity and status:

The platform covers all nine South African provinces:

Data is aggregated at the provincial level for map visualisations and can be explored at the district level (52 health districts) through the Data Explorer and Analytics pages. Some indicators (e.g., WBPHCOT deployment) are available at the sub-district level.

• Reporting delays: Health data from DHIS may have reporting lags of 1-3 months depending on the province and indicator.
• Data completeness: Not all facilities report consistently. Current estimated completeness is approximately 87%.
• Geographic resolution: Weather data is point-based (from weather stations) and may not perfectly represent conditions across an entire province.
• Historical weather events: The extreme weather event record (1991-2024) is compiled from media reports and official SAWS records. Some events may be under-reported, particularly in earlier years and rural areas.
• Association vs causation: The co-visualisation of climate and health data shows associations but does not imply direct causal relationships.
• Real-time weather: Current weather conditions are fetched from the Open-Meteo API and may differ from official SAWS observations.

Data Update Frequency

South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC)
1 Soutpansberg Road, Pretoria, South Africa
Email: info@samrc.ac.za
Website: www.samrc.ac.za

For technical support or data queries related to the platform, please contact the SAMRC Climate Change & Health team through the Support page.