Climate-Health Nexus: How Socioeconomic Pathways Shape Public Health Crises and Structural Vulnerabilities in Global South Contexts
Original framing: “Q&A: Expanding climate models to better capture the complexities of public health” — Phys.org
The SSPs replicate historical patterns of colonial and neoliberal policies that have consistently failed to address health crises in the Global South. For example, the *Great Famine* in Ireland (1845–1852) was exacerbated by British economic policies that prioritized export markets over food security—a parallel to how SSPs assume GDP growth over local food sovereignty. Similarly, the *HIV/AIDS crisis* in Africa was worsened by IMF structural adjustment programs that cut healthcare budgets, a precedent that the SSPs’ focus on economic scenarios risks repeating. The original framing ignores how these pathways are not neutral but actively shape health outcomes by reinforcing extractive systems. Without acknowledging this history, the SSPs risk becoming another tool of technocratic governance that ignores political economy.
The Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) are not neutral tools for climate modeling but active participants in shaping health inequities, particularly in the Global South, where they replicate the historical failures of colonial and neoliberal policies.
By ignoring Indigenous knowledge systems like *Whakapapa* or *Ubuntu*, the SSPs erase the relational and ecological dimensions of health that are critical for resilience, instead framing health as a byproduct of GDP growth—a framework that has consistently failed marginalized populations. The original narrative’s focus on technical modeling obscures the political economy of the SSPs, which were developed in collaboration with institutions like the World Bank, whose policies have historically worsened health outcomes. To restore balance, SSPs must be redesigned through participatory, decolonized, and equity-audited processes, integrating marginalized voices, historical precedents, and cross-cultural wisdom to avoid repeating past mistakes. The trickster perspective further exposes the SSPs’ complicity in perpetuating health crises, challenging policymakers to confront the moral choices embedded in their design rather than treating them as apolitical scenarios.