Health and Climate: Tackling Common Issues Together

The health implications of climate change have long been discussed: climate change is expected to worsen risks related to climate-sensitive diseases such as heat stress, malaria and malnutrition. Malaria kills over 600,000 today, and undernutrition affects around 3.1 million; these are health threats that, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) most recent report, are highly sensitive to climate conditions. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that climate change will account for approximately 250,000 additional deaths between 2030 and 2050.

The WHO organised an event on Tuesday at the Bonn climate change conference on the topic of “Piloting country profiles for health and climate change”, to discuss health-related impacts of climate change and the steps currently being taken to address them.

Dr. Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, team leader at the World Health Organisation, stressed that it is “not inevitable that climate change will lead to health impacts”. On the contrary, this challenge of reducing the projected “disease burden” actually presents a new opportunity. Innovative approaches can be taken to address challenges in both areas to create added value. In order to do this, cooperation between the health and environment sectors is crucial. Several initiatives introduced were aimed at bringing together these two sectors, including a WHO conference on health and climate last year, and meetings between health and environment ministers in the EU which led to the Parma Declaration on Environment and Health in 2010.

What are some of the potentially fruitful intersections between the climate and health sectors? First, health improvements can be sought directly through mitigation. In particular, air quality is a health threat that can be addressed through reducing emissions. Short-lived climate pollutants such as HFCs and black carbon are not only major drivers of climate change but also increase mortality rates. The WHO attributes 7 million premature deaths in 2012 – an eighth of deaths worldwide – alone to air pollution exposure.

Plus, there is substantial potential for “greening the health sector” – achieving sustainability and efficiency within the health sector – to further save and improve lives. Noting the importance of transferring technologies from developed to developing countries, Dr. Louise Newport of the UK Department of Health explained that using renewables to power hospitals allows developing countries to “leapfrog the emissions” while improving health conditions in places where energy has not been readily accessible. The world’s largest solar power hospital opened last year in Haiti, and renewable-powered hospitals have been emerging in other countries such as Rwanda and Malawi. Where other energy resources are scarce and inaccessible, green technology can generate the power that is crucial to operating health facilities.

On the macro level, increased awareness in the health sector can bring progress on the climate action front. The country profiles for health and climate change that are currently being produced – as a result of an agreement at the Climate and Health Conference in August 2014 – aim to “empower ministries of health to engage in the preparations of national positions before the final COP21 negotiations”.

At the event in Bonn, Isabel Aranda, a program officer of the UNFCCC, emphasised the importance of the health sector’s voice in national and international policy as a trusted source of information and opinion. If health ministries are aware of the threats that climate change poses to public health, the argument goes, they will be in a better position to support stronger national commitments. As a relatively new, but well-trusted, actor they may be able to provide the extra “push” that is necessary to create a sense of urgency for a climate deal.

In order to tackle problems relevant to both sectors, the health sector should be an important player in the climate discussion. However, over 30 per cent of EU countries that recently participated in a WHO questionnaire about climate change and health responded that health effects of climate change are not of high relevance in political processes. We can hope, as the WHO and other international organisations do, that providing health practitioners and ministries with country-specific information will change this situation. At the same time, we must also recognise that providing information will not solve problems on its own. Further action to encourage dialogue between relevant authorities in health and climate will prove necessary in the months and years to come.