Table 1.

Characteristics of studies included in the review.

No	Article Title	Country(ies) of Research	Study Setting	Study Design	Study Population	Study Aim	Study Outcome Data
1	The HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa: Convergence with tuberculosis, socio-ecological vulnerability, and climate change patterns [18]	South Africa	Whole country	Review	Persons living with HIV or TB, as well as the general population	Review intersections between HIV, tuberculosis and climate change	N/A
2	Modelling the influence of temperature and rainfall on the population dynamics of Anopheles arabiensis [19]	South Africa	Dondotha village, northeast part of KwaZulu-Natal Province	Modelling study	Anopheles arabiensis mosquitos	To apply a climate-based, ordinary-differential-equation model to analyse the influence of ambient temperature on the development and the mortality rate of Anopheles arabiensis	The seasonality of An. arabiensis and the influence of climatic factors on the vector population dynamics
3	Potential impacts of climate change on extreme precipitation over four African coastal cities [20]	Egypt, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa	Cape Town, Western Cape	Modelling study	General population living in the four cities	To examine the impacts of climate change on extreme precipitation events under different climate scenarios	Number of extreme precipitation events, number of wet days and dry spells
4	Climatic Variables and Malaria Morbidity in Mutale Local Municipality, South Africa: A 19-Year Data Analysis [21]	South Africa	Mutale municipality, Limpopo province	Time-series analysis	Patients with malaria	To examine the dynamics of the disease’s transmission and its persistence, by investigating the relationship between climate and the occurrence of malaria	Monthly climatic variables and monthly malaria cases using data over 19 years. Time lag between climate variation and malaria incidence
5	Why equity in health and in access to health care are elusive: Insights from Canada and South Africa [22]	Canada, South Africa	Whole country	Narrative review	Whole population, but focus on vulnerable groups	To illustrate the complexity of achieving greater equity, drawing on experiences in Canada and South Africa. Also to Identify bi-directional lessons relevant both to countries and globally concerning health care funding approaches and other means of reducing health inequities, including those related to climate change	N/A
6	Students' Perceived Heat-Health Symptoms Increased with Warmer Classroom Temperatures [23]	South Africa	City of Joburg, Gauteng Province	Cross-sectional study	School children aged 14–18 years at 8 schools in City of Johannesburg	To assess school children‘s perceived heat-health symptoms during school hours in the classroom	Self-completed heat-health log and questionnaire, and indoor temperature and relative humidity measured in classrooms
7	How climate change can fuel listeriosis outbreaks in South Africa [24]	South Africa	Whole country	Editorial	General population	To consider the relationship between listeriosis outbreaks and climate change	N/A
8	Ecological niche and potential distribution of Anopheles arabiensis in Africa in 2050 [25]	All of Africa	Whole country	Modelling study	Anopheles arabiensis mosquitos	To map the future potential distribution of Anopheles arabiensis in Africa	Distribution of Anopheles arabiensis under three climate change scenarios, comparing baseline and projected changes
9	Environmental Change, Migration, and Conflict in Africa: A Critical Examination of the Interconnections [26]	All of sub-Saharan Africa	Migrants in the country	Narrative review	People who are migrants, or in conflict areas	To examine interconnections between environmental change, migration and conflict in Africa, analysing evidence for migration as an intermediary and bidirectional causal variable in the climate-conflict interaction	N/A
10	The health implications of wastewater reuse in vegetable irrigation: a case study from Malamulele, South Africa [27]	South Africa	Malamulele, Limpopo province	Cross-sectional survey	Farmers, children, farm workers, vegetable consumers and environmental samples	To investigate the health and socio-economic implications of irrigation of vegetables with wastewater	Number and type of helminth eggs in wastewater and vegetable wash water, prevalence of gastroenteritis
11	Seasonally lagged effects of climatic factors on malaria incidence in South Africa [28]	South Africa	Limpopo	Spatial and temporal mapping, with self-organizing maps	Malaria cases	To analyse the relationship between local climatic effects and remote atmospheric teleconnections on the incidence of malaria, including lag effects	Association between malaria incidence and local and regional climate factors
12	Effect of temperature on the Bulinus globosus—Schistosoma haematobium system [29]	South Africa	uMkhanyakude and Verulam, KwaZulu-Natal Province	Prospective study	Bulinus globosus and Schistosoma haematobium	To assess the effect of temperature on snail fecundity, growth, survival and parasite development	Snail fecundity and growth., and parasite development
13	Current and Potential Future Seasonal Trends of Indoor Dwelling Temperature and Likely Health Risks in Rural Southern Africa [30]	South Africa	Giyani, Limpopo Province	Cross-sectional study	Households in rural setting in north-eastern part of South Africa	To consider the relationship between temperatures in indoor and outdoor environments in a rural residential setting in a current climate and warmer predicted future climate	Temperature and humidity measurements collected hourly in 406 homes in summer and spring and at two-hour intervals in 98 homes in winter
14	A socio-economic approach to One Health policy research in southern Africa [31]	All countries in Southern Africa	Whole country	Narrative review	General population	To identify which factors affect the burden of disease and how the burden could affect socio-economic well-being, including climate change	N/A
15	Climate change and occupational health: A South African perspective [32]	South Africa	Whole country	Narrative review	People in the workplace	To review the impacts of climate change on occupational health and possible prevention and control measures	N/A
16	Long-run relative importance of temperature as the main driver to malaria transmission in Limpopo Province, South Africa: a simple econometric approach [33]	South Africa	Limpopo Province	Econometrics	People with malaria	To examine the distribution of malaria, determine direction and strength of the relationship and causality between malaria and meteorological variables	Malaria correlation with temperature and rainfall
17	Spatially and Temporally Varying Associations between Temporary Outmigration and Natural Resource Availability in Resource-Dependent Rural Communities in South Africa: A Modeling Framework [34]	South Africa	Rural areas	Modelling study	Agincourt, rural area of Mpumalanga province	To methodologically assess the robustness of migration environment associations and to explore the effects of inherent spatial variation of these associations	Spatial variability in migration-environment associations. Indicators of natural resource availability.
18	Mind the gap: institutional considerations for gender-inclusive climate change policy in Sub-Saharan Africa [35]	All of sub-Saharan Africa	Whole country	Narrative review	General population, vulnerable groups of women	To elucidate why women should be placed at the heart of climate change interventions and establish connections between gender and climate change	N/A
19	Climate change impacts on working people (the HOTHAPS initiative): findings of the South African pilot study [36]	South Africa	Johannesburg, Gauteng Province and Upington, Northern Province	Qualitative study	People working in sun-exposed environment, including grave diggers, street sweepers, roadside construction workers, sewage and sanitary workers and horticultural workers.	To investigate the perceptions of outdoor workers regarding their work environment in hot weather and how this affected their health and productivity	Heat-related effects, including sunburn, sleeplessness, irritability, and exhaustion. Also work levels, outputs and adaptation measures
20	Climate change: A threat towards achieving ‘Sustainable Development Goal number two’ (end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture) in South Africa [5]	South Africa	Whole country	Narrative review using snowball sampling to select sources and discourse analysis	General population	To examine the impacts of climate change on the achievement of SDG 2	N/A
21	Temperature Variability and Occurrence of Diarrhoea in Children under Five-Years-Old in Cape Town Metropolitan Sub-Districts [37]	South Africa	Cape Town, Western Cape	Surveillance data longitudinal analysis	Children under five with diarrhoea	To describe the relationship between temperature change and diarrhoea in under five-year-old children	Incident cases of diarrhoea and associations with temperature
22	Responding to climate change in southern Africa—the role of research [38]	Southern Africa	Whole country	Editorial	Academic researchers and funders	To highlight need for collecting locally relevant information on climate change	N/A
23	A public health approach to the impact of climate change on health in southern Africa—identifying priority modifiable risks [14]	Southern Africa	Whole country	Editorial	General population	To describe a conceptual model for analysing climate-related health risks ranging from distal and infrastructural, to proximal and behavioural, and their relation to the burden of disease	N/A
24	Indoor Temperatures in Low Cost Housing in Johannesburg, South Africa [39]	South Africa	City of Johannesburg, Gauteng Province	Cross-sectional study	Five impoverished suburbs in City of Johannesburg	To record indoor temperature and relative humidity in homes	For 100 homes, collected indoor temperature and relative humidity as well as ambient data for the suburb
25	The impact of housing type on temperature-related mortality in South Africa, 1996–2015 [40]	South Africa	Eastern and Western Cape Provinces	Modelling study	People living in five types of housing	To examine how housing modifies temperature-mortality associations	Temperature-related mortality burdens
26	Potential impacts of climate change on wildfire dynamics in the midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa [41]	South Africa	Midlands area of KwaZulu Natal Province	Modelling study	People and vegetation in study area	To investigate fire dynamics under different climatic scenarios	Annual average fire danger
27	Climate change is catchy-but when will it really hurt? [16]	South Africa	Whole country	Editorial	General population with a focus on impacts on vulnerable groups	To review and discuss the possible impacts of climate change on health and call for more climate-health research	N/A
28	Impact of climate change on children's health in Limpopo Province, South Africa [42]	South Africa	5 municipalities in Limpopo Province	Surveillance data longitudinal analysis	Children under 13 attending a hospital	To examine the impact of climate change on child health, including trends and urban-rural variation in disease, and to suggest adaptation/mitigation strategies.	Association of temperature and rainfall with disease incidence
29	Zoom in at African country level: potential climate induced changes in areas of suitability for survival of malaria vectors [43]	Africa	Whole country	Modelling study	Anopheles arabiensis and Anopheles gambiae mosquitos	To estimate the geographical distribution and seasonal abundance of malaria vectors in relation to climate factors	Survivorship of malaria vectors. Change in malaria suitability zones
30	Heat effects of ambient apparent temperature on all-cause mortality in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg, South Africa: 2006–2010 [44]	South Africa	Cape Town, Western Cape Province; Durban, Kwa-Zulu Natal Province; Johannesburg, Gauteng Province	Modelling study	People who died	To investigate associations between daily ambient apparent temperature and daily all-cause non-accidental mortality	Death rates at different temperatures
31	Human health impacts in a changing South African climate [45]	South Africa	Whole country	Narrative review	General population with a focus on impacts on vulnerable groups	To consider impacts of climate change on human health and suggest ways to prevent adverse impacts	N/A
32	Climate change: One of the greatest threats to public health in the 21st century [46]	South African	Whole country	Editorial	General population	To consider impacts of climate change on human health	N/A
33	Indoor Temperatures in Patient Waiting Rooms in Eight Rural Primary Health Care Centers in Northern South Africa and the Related Potential Risks to Human Health and Wellbeing [47]	South Africa	Giyani, Limpopo Province	Cross-sectional study	Eight clinic waiting rooms	To determine indoor temperatures of waiting rooms in eight rural primary health care facilities during a 6-month period.	10-minute temperature and relative humidity readings that were used to calculate apparent temperature (real-feel)
34	Climate change impacts and adaptation in South Africa [15]	South Africa	Whole country	Narrative review	General population	To review current approaches and recent advances in research on climate impacts and adaptation	N/A

N/A: not applicable.