Differences on the Perceptions of Climate Change and Health Risks among Urban and Rural Primary Healthcare Workers

Objectives To investigate the urban-rural differences on the perceptions of climate change and health risks among primary healthcare workers.

Methods By stratified random cluster sampling, extracted all the healthcare workers from 21 urban and 10 rural primary healthcare institutions in Guangdong Province, and collected the basic information and the perceptions of climate change and its health risk through questionnaires. Chisquare test, Wilcoxon rank sum test and logistic stepwise regression analysis were used to explore the cognitive differences of climate change between urban and rural primary health workers.

Results 63.8% (468/733) of primary healthcare workers agreed that climate change was happening, and 55.4% (406/733) believed that climate change was mainly attributable to human activities. Urban primary healthcare workers were more likely than rural counterparts to agree that climate change was happening. There was no obvious difference between urban and rural primary healthcare workers in recognizing the causes of climate change. In terms of the health risks of heat wave, urban primary healthcare workers had a slightly higher cognitive level than rural primary health workers, while in terms of the relationship between climate change and infectious diseases, the cognitive level of rural primary healthcare workers was slightly higher than urban primary healthcare workers, but the differences of both were not statistically significant. In the identification of vulnerable groups of climate change, rural primary healthcare workers had a higher cognitive level than urban primary healthcare workers, which was statistically significant. In addition, the higher professional title of primary healthcare workers, the higher their cognitive level of the health risk of climate change. Clinicians were more likely than nurses and public health practitioners to agree that climate change was happening and to understand the correct causes.

Conclusions Urban primary healthcare workers were more likely than rural counterparts to agree that climate change was happening, while rural primary healthcare workers had a higher cognitive level than urban primary healthcare workers to identify vulnerable groups of climate change. No matter in urban or rural areas, the cognition of primary healthcare workers on climate change and its health risks was not optimistic, and measures should be taken to improve their cognition so as to enhance their ability to address health risks of climate change.