Perceptions of climate change and associated health impacts among communities

Authors: Kwa Yee Chu, Norlilawati Suboh, Dominic Kay Shuen Wei, Cindy Lee Ik Sing, Claire L Walsh, Michaela L Goodson

Abstract: As climate change is threatening every region of the world, extreme weather events resultant of global warming is occurring at increasing rate and scale in Malaysia. Weather-related disasters such as flood and haze pose critical challenges to the infrastructure and raise public health concerns in the country, especially when main economic sectors rely heavily on climate variability. Public perception on environmental issues is crucial for development of pro-environmental policies. Among studies conducted to understand public awareness regarding global warming, reports of perception on the health impacts were very limited. Taking this limitation into account, this study was designed to examine the perception on the health impacts of climate change among the diverse communities living in the Johor River Basin.