This is a reminder for our next seminar on Health and Health Systems in the Global Context (HHSGC). This is an interdisciplinary seminar series which aims to bring together researchers interested in broadening the understanding and tackling some of the most pressing challenges faced by health systems globally. The series provides a forum for interdisciplinary exchange, showcasing theoretical and empirical research, policy analysis, and implementation insights from diverse regional, disciplinary and methodological perspectives.
Next seminar:
Speaker: Dr Sonia Dias, Dr Rafael Buralli, Ms Suntaree Saeng-Ging
Date: Wednesday 29 July 2026, 15.30-17.00
Location: Engineering B_2B.025 M&T, with light refreshments provided (in person only and no registration required)
Topic: Climate Change, Health, and Workers in the Informal Economy: Lessons from Brazil and Thailand
Workers in informal employment typically face an array of threats to their health and livelihoods, while also lacking access to social protection and legal recognition. At the same time, they often play an integral role in food systems, transport networks, and waste management, alongside a range of other essential livelihoods. They make up over 50% of the urban workforce in middle-income countries and over 75% in low-income countries (based on ILO data). Climate change is already exacerbating these workers' challenges and contributing to ill-health, economic losses, and deepening precarity. Such concerns will require equitable and interdisciplinary responses, including from public health, city planning, economic development, and related fields.
This seminar will bring together public health and practitioner perspectives from Brazil and Thai cities to explain the links between health, climate change, and informal employment. Speakers will explore how climate shocks (including extreme heat and flooding) are shaping the health and livelihoods of workers in the informal economy; discuss workers' current responses, as well as how they can be better supported and scaled-up; and identify key data-collection priorities alongside policy recommendations.
About the speaker:
• Dr Sonia Dias, Waste Sector Specialist, Women in Informal Employment: Globalising and Organising (WIEGO), Brazil, who has led multiple participatory action-research projects exploring climate change, women's empowerment, and occupational health risks facing informal waste-pickers
• Dr Rafael Buralli, Professor of Public Health at University of São Paulo, Brazil, with research exploring occupational & environmental health, epidemiology, and decent work in the informal economy
• Ms Suntaree Saeng-Ging, Regional coordinator of HomeNet Southeast Asia, Thailand, who brings lengthy experience in mobilising Thai home-based workers and other informal labourers to enhance their access to healthcare, social protection, and services.
Any questions? Please contact Alice Sverdlik, Lecturer in Urban Development and Planning alice.sverdlik@manchester.ac.uk
Sponsored by:
FBMH, Vice Dean for Research and Innovation
FSE, Strategic Academic Support Fund
Environment, Policy, and Place Research Group (SEED) and Global Urban Futures Research Group (SEED)
This is a great opportunity to connect with colleagues from across the University who share an interest in health and health systems across different settings. Join us to connect and learn!
We welcome suggestions and ideas. Please get in touch if you have suggestions, proposed speakers, or are interested in presenting or simply to be added to the mailing list.
