Environmental health and climate change, Thematic Committee

Dr. Meghnath Dhimal

Dr. Meghnath Dhimal is an experienced Environmental Health Scientist with 18+ years of expertise in Nepal, Maldives, Timor-Leste, and Germany. He currently holds the position of Chief/Senior Research Officer at Nepal Health Research Council (NHRC), Government of Nepal. With a PhD in Environmental Health Sciences from Goethe University, Germany, he has led over 50 research projects as Principal Investigator and contributed to over 100 projects as Co-Investigator. Recognized for his work in climate change and health, he has received prestigious awards, including the Young Scientists Award of the Year 2015 and the National Science, Technology and Innovation Award of Health Sector 2022. Meghnath is an active member of various national and international organizations, including WHO’s Expert Group on Environment Determinants of Health and Climate Change, the Welcome Trust’s Health Effects of Heat Interventions Advisory Committee, and Future Earth Health Knowledge Action Network’s steering committee. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles in renowned journals such as The Lancet, Nature, and BMJ, with a Google Scholar citation count of 33,000 and an h-index of 50.

Publications:

  1. COVID-19 vaccination and global health equity: A decisive challenge for governments and policymakers
  2. Climate change and infectious disease surveillance in Nepal: qualitative study exploring social, cultural, political and institutional factors influencing disease surveillance
  3. Global variation in diabetes diagnosis and prevalence based on fasting glucose and hemoglobin A1c
  4. Global, regional, and national burden of other musculoskeletal disorders, 1990–2020, and projections to 2050: a systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021
  5. Global, regional, and national mortality due to unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning, 2000–2021: results from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021
  6. Global, regional, and national burden of rheumatoid arthritis, 1990-2020, and projections to 2050: a systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021