The changing climate presents a significant threat to health risk factors and the capacity of healthcare providers to deliver quality and timely services. Mitigating the effects of climate change on health outcomes requires adaptation within the health system. This includes identifying hazards and vulnerabilities, supporting ongoing integrated surveillance and early warning systems, and enabling the transformation of health services. Primary care providers are on the frontline in dealing with both direct and indirect health effects of climate change. Better alignment and strengthening of health system functions at primary care settings, including mobilization of financing, are required to improve the preparedness of primary care providers to mitigate potential health effects of climate change. Improving the readiness of primary care providers to adapt or transform their functions and service delivery should involve effective multi-sectoral or intersectoral approaches.

About the speaker

Image

Dr Nyoman

Dr Nyoman Sutarsa is a public health physician with a PhD in public health, health systems and policy. He is a senior lecturer and researcher at the School of Medicine and Psychology (SMP), College of Health and Medicine, ANU. He hold current and past commissioned research projects from various international agencies, including the WHO, ASEAN Office, Ministry of Health of Indonesia, DFAT Australia, and Ford Foundation.

More recently, Nyoman have successfully secured several research grants from the ANU Indonesia Project, the ANU Global Research Partnership Scheme, and Rural and Remote Health Service (RaRMS Ltd). In 2022 (ongoing to now), He was involved as one of the ASEAN Primary Investigators (PIs) for the ASEAN Sero-Serological Surveillance Study on COVID-19 Vaccination, involving 6 countries in South East Asia (Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam). In Indonesia, this study is designed as a community-based cohort study with 12 months follow-up.

Dr Nyoman was also part of PIs on two large population-based survey to measure true coverage of vaccination coverage for Japanese Encephalitis and COVID-19 in Indonesia, involving more than 14 thousands respondents using recall survey and validation methods.

His research has been published in various public health journals, including Family Practice, Lancet, Journal of Development Effectiveness, Australian Journal of Primary Health, Australian Journal of Rural Health, Healthcare Journal, Public Health and Preventive Medicine Archive, Social Sciences Journal, Infectious Disease Reports, International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, Asia pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine, and others. I have also published various critical commentaries on The Conversation, East Asia Forum, and Inside Indonesia on topics about health/public health in Indonesia.