04 Jul 2022

The Assistant Minister of Health, Mr  Setlhomo Lelatisitswe has called for policies, guidelines and measures aimed at protecting the planet.

When launching the 2022 World Health Day commemorations in Rakops recently, Mr Lelatisitswe urged all stakeholders and in particular, civil society, business community and individuals, to join hands with government in putting in place measures to safeguard the planet.

He said when the planet was protected, water resources, food resources and air will be protected as well, which would in turn ensure protection of people’s health.

Mr Lelatisitswe said climatic disruptions, together with other natural and human-made health stressors, influence human health and disease in numerous ways.

He added that the health effects of these disruptions include increased respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, injuries and premature deaths related to extreme weather events. The assistant minister said there were also changes in the prevalence and geographical distribution of food and water-borne illnesses and other infectious and threats to mental health.

He said evidence showed that air pollution kills 13 people every minute and seven million every year, as it increased the risk of health threatening conditions such as lung cancers, heart diseases and strokes.

Mr Lelatisitswe said further evidence suggests that 9 out of 10 people breathe polluted air, mainly as a result of burning fossil fuels, adding that air pollution was generally caused by human activities such as burning of coal, firewood and emission from vehicles.

He said this had compromised the quality of the environment such that problems such as climate change were being experienced.

Mr Lelatisitswe said it was important to keep water safe and wholesome so that it does not compromise health, adding that “we therefore need to implement measures that deal with those elements that can contaminate water and these include disposing waste water properly as well as correct use of pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals”.

He urged all of government entities, civil society, business community, communities and individuals to play a role in addressing this situation.

He said it was important to keep the planet safe for it to keep people healthy and in this regard “member states are encouraged to refocus on health holistically and address other environmental factors affecting health”.

For her part, World Health Organisation (WHO) Country Representative Dr Josephine Namboze said WHO estimates that 13 million annual deaths globally are due to avoidable environmental causes, including the climate crisis.

She said with direct consequences for the key determinants of health, climate change is negatively impacting air and water quality, food security and human habitat and shelter.

Dr Namboze said the knock-on effect for the burden of heart and lung disease, stroke and cancer, among others, was evident from statistics that point to Non -Communicable Diseases (NCDs) representing a growing proportion of the world’s disease burden.

In the African region, she said, NCDs are set to overtake communicable diseases, maternal, neonatal and nutritional conditions combined, to become the leading cause of death by 2030.

She said during the past two decades, most public health events have been climate-related, whether they were vector or water-borne, transmitted from animals to human or the result of natural disasters. ENDS