Wits Planetary Health Research

Established in 2024, we are a small, dynamic, and professionally diverse team conducting cutting-edge globally relevant research into planetary health, with a focus on the effects of climate change on public health. Although based in Johannesburg, South Africa we have a footprint across South Africa, the United Kingdom and Ireland. We are a division of Infectious Diseases and Oncology Research Institute (IDORI), a leading research institution at the University of the Witwatersrand led by Dr Robert Breiman. Our projects include: the NIH-funded HE2AT Centre, where we are exploring the effects of heat across Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Wellcome-funded Bio-HEAT project where we are exploring the biological mechanisms of the impacts of heat in pregnant women in children in South Africa.