Set When the Sun Rises, Rise When the Sun Sets: Climate Impact on Health, Safety, and Wellbeing of Smallholder Farmers in Vietnam

Abstract

Vietnam is a country most at risk for experiencing climate change effects, especially increasing temperatures. Agricultural production is one of the biggest contributors to Vietnam’s economy. Recent research has explored how climate change will impact agriculture in Vietnam. However, the impact of climate change to the health, safety, and wellbeing of Vietnamese farmers is often overlooked. In this study, we conducted five focus groups with 46 farmers representing three provinces of Vietnam. We used a convergent mixed-methods design and a Total Worker Health® framework to assess how farmers in Vietnam experience climate-change-related hazards and describe how famers associate these hazards with impacts to their health, safety, and wellbeing. Multi-dimensional scaling suggests farmers conceptualize hazards separately from health, safety, and wellbeing outcomes, but a thematic analysis of our data indicated that farmers perceive both direct and indirect impacts of climate change to their health, safety, and wellbeing. Direct impacts of climate change described included physical health effects such as heat stress. Indirect impacts included mental health stressors due to productivity demands. Gaps in available health and safety trainings for farmers were also identified. This project demonstrates the need to co-develop safety and health trainings with farmers. System-level approaches both at the societal and community levels are needed. The local governments, cooperatives, Women’s Unions, and Farmers’ Unions are trusted sources of information that could implement and disseminate these trainings.