A Theoretical Framework for Integrating Climate Change Adaptation into Environmental Health Policy in Northern Nigeria

Climate change is progressively altering the environmental determinants of health in Northern Nigeria through shifts in rainfall patterns, desertification expansion, temperature extremes, and altered vector ecologies, yet a coherent theoretical framework for integrating climate adaptation into environmental health policy remains absent in the Nigerian literature. This dissertation develops an original theoretical framework drawing upon complexity theory, the social-ecological systems model, and environmental justice perspectives to conceptualize the climate-health interface in Northern Nigeria. The research employed a qualitative constructivist paradigm involving document analysis of forty-three federal and state environmental health and climate policy instruments, Delphi consultation with twenty-eight expert panelists spanning public health, climatology, and development policy, and thirty-two in-depth interviews with environmental health practitioners in Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto, and Gombe states. Thematic and framework analysis generated five theoretical propositions governing the climate-health policy integration challenge. Results revealed fundamental structural disconnections between climate change adaptation institutional frameworks and environmental health governance systems at federal, state, and LGA levels. The absence of co-production mechanisms between climate scientists and public health practitioners was identified as a central gap. The proposed framework operationalizes four integration domains: hazard surveillance, health vulnerability mapping, adaptive governance, and community resilience. This dissertation makes an original theoretical contribution by providing the first indigenously developed conceptual framework for climate-health policy integration in Northern Nigeria. It offers a replicable policy design template for state-level integration initiatives. Keywords: climate change adaptation, environmental health policy, theoretical framework, Northern Nigeria, governance.