29 Aug 2023

World Health Organisation (WHO) member states have been urged to act urgently and decisively to address the impact of climate crisis on health as it was creating a major strain on health services.

Speaking during the 73rd session of WHO Regional Committee in Gaborone yesterday, the organisation’s regional director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti made an urgent call for global climate action to create resilient and sustainable health systems.

Dr Moeti said the world had watched Europe literally burning during the past few months. “Here in our region, prolonged drought in the Sahel and greater Horn of Africa and cyclones in southern Africa have increased morbidity, mortality, and human suffering.”

She indicated that last May, on the margins of the World Health Assembly, with governments and other partners, WHO launched a regional initiative to tackle the health impacts of climate change on the continent and therefore made a call for climate action.

She said Africa had been witnessing increasing trends of climate-linked emergencies, saying out of almost 2 000 public health events recorded in the region between 2001 and 2021, 56 per cent were climate change related.

She said climate crisis threatened to undo the last 50 years of progress in development, global health, and poverty reduction.

Sharing some of WHO observations from disease surveillance initiatives on trends in climate-related events, and persistent challenges facing Africa, Dr Moeti highlighted some policy initiatives that WHO was currently involved in to address the climate-health crisis.

She pointed out that Africa was witnessing various extreme weather events, including droughts, floods, hurricanes, and heatwaves – which harmed human health, adding that the recent climatic events had devastated the lives of millions of people across Africa.

She said in southern Africa, this year’s cyclone season caused extensive flooding and damage, therefore raised the risk of water-borne diseases, worsening cholera outbreaks in several countries.

“Across the greater Horn of Africa, a prolonged drought continues to claim lives; it has displaced millions and pushed them to the brink of famine amid widespread malnutrition,” she said

She stated that in West Africa, climate change intermingled with political tensions, violent conflicts, and complex humanitarian emergencies that must be addressed with integrated responses.

She highlighted that across the continent, climate change was driving increased vector and water-borne disease transmissions, pointing out that from the 1950s to the decade between 2012 and 2021, the number of months suitable for malaria transmission increased by 13.8 per cent in the highland areas of Africa, and the likelihood of dengue fever transmission rose by 12.0 per cent.

She indicated that climate change had also promoted an unprecedented surge in cholera outbreaks in Africa and globally.

“Many African countries that reported cholera outbreaks in 2022 experienced natural disasters like cyclones in Mozambique and Malawi, flooding in Nigeria, and drought in countries that make up the greater horn of Africa,” she said.

She pointed out that displacements, natural disasters, and conflicts over natural resources came in as added concerns, as they exposed women and girls to higher risks of sexual violence, exploitation, abuse, and trafficking, leaving psychological stress, anxiety and depression in their wake.

She urged governments to strengthen their links and use the output of WHO analysis for effective interventions, and encouraged them to embrace a health-centred response to climate change, so as to tackle the diverse array of health repercussions stemming from the climate change crisis and to safeguard public health and secure a sustainable future for generations to come.

Dr Moeti stated that WHO would support member states in conducting vulnerability and adaptation assessments, developing national health adaptation plans, assessing the carbon footprint of health systems, and planning for decarbonisation. ENDS