Session 9. Syndemic effect and climate change on vulnerable people and territories

Given the continuous acceleration of climate change and the Covid19’ syndemic evolution and its impact on people, it needs to implement changes in policies and procedures regarding old and new requirements of people exposed to pandemic risks and living in social vulnerability conditions. The phenomenon caused by the SARS-COV2 virus highlights the need to implement the One Health approach (WHO, 2017) in redefining the importance of global health and involving all countries in reducing inequalities. The accelerating climate change affects the entire planet and the variety of its combined effects on every aspect of life - physical, natural, economic, social, agricultural, urban, etc. (NRP, 2021-2027). So, the approach to analyzing the phenomenon, and intervention, must be conceived with a cross-disciplinary perspective.

This session aims to highlight correlations and links between the Covid-19 pandemic and global climate change and their impact on vulnerable people and territories. The most direct consequence of climate risks falls on the health of populations, generating, among others, mental and community health disorders such as health disease, eco-anxiety, etc. For instance: a study conducted in Denmark and Finland shows that adults who have been exposed to pollution since childhood are twice as likely to develop a personality disorder or schizophrenia. A study by the Institute on Air Pollution and the CNR Institute of Cultural Heritage Sciences shows how the different pandemics and climate change have similar dynamics (Pasini et al., 2020). The impact of climate change extends to all sectors that support life on the planet, and immediate and structural changes are needed to counter it; therefore, social action is straight.

According to these premises, we invite scholars from Europe and around the Globe to submit theoretical and empirical contributions - a comparative perspective - dealing with the following themes (but not limited to):

• Impact of the Covid-19 syndemic on the population: differences, inequalities, mortality, morbidity.
• Health and social policy responses in facing the pandemic.
• Relation between pandemic and climate change and impact on populations.
• Climate change, global health, social and international inequalities.

Alessandra Sannella is Associate Professor and Delegate of the Rector for Sustainable Development at the University of Cassino. Her scientific interests concern the reduction of inequalities in the processes of international migration, health, global health policies related to sustainable development. She is President of the University Committee for Sustainable Development (CASe) and is the scientific referent of the International Observatory for Sustainable Development and Global Health 2030 (IOSS 2030) at the University of Cassino. She is currently a member of the Scientific Council of the AIS Section of Sociology of Health and Medicine for the three years 2020/2022.

Lia Lombardi is adjunct professor of Sociology and Sociology of Health and Medicine at the University of Milan; senior researcher and project manager at the Fondazione ISMU, Health and Welfare Unit. Health, Gender, Migration are the main fields of her studies. Since 1989 she has been carrying out comparative research on health and reproductive health by a gender and cultural perspective, with focuses on reproductive technologies and migration processes. From 2017 to 2021 she has been member of the ESA RN16 board. She currently is member of SISS (Italian Society of Sociology of Health).