Protecting our Health from
Professionals Climate Change:
a Training Course for Public Health
Chapter 18: Regional Action
Plan for
South-East Asia
Outline
 South-East Asia (SEA) countries most
vulnerable
 Regional consensus on need for climate
action
 National climate action plans
 Conclusions
Map of the South-East Asia
Region
Hotspots of Security Risks Associated
with Climate Change: The Asian Challenge
Source: WBGU, 2007
Hotspots of Security Risks Associated with
Climate Change: The Asian Challenge (cont.)
Source: WBGU, 2007
Developing Climate Action Plans
http://barista.media2.org
Regional Action Plan to Protect
Human Health from Climate Change
The regional plan has three broader objectives:
 To increase awareness of the health consequences
of climate change
 To strengthen health system capacity to provide
protection from climate-related risks and to
substantially reduce health systems’ greenhouse
gas emissions
 To ensure that health concerns are addressed in all
decisions on reducing risks from climate change
taken by other key sectors
Increasing Awareness of Health
Consequences of Climate Change
Warmer temperatures
will favour outbreaks of
water-borne illnesses
Diarrhoeal diseases
accounted for 20.1% of
deaths in children less than
five years of age in 2005 in
the SEA region
Strengthen Health Systems
Capacity
 Develop national action plans for health, integrated
with existing national plans
 Incorporate current and projected climate change
risks into existing health policies, plans, and
programmes
 Strengthen existing infrastructure and
interventions, including human resource capacity
 Strengthen public health systems and
disaster/emergency preparedness and response
activities, including psychosocial support
Strengthen Health Systems
Capacity (cont.)
 Provide early warning systems to support prompt
and effective responses to current and projected
health burdens
 Implement adaptations specific to local health
determinants to facilitate the development of
community-based resource management
 Determined costs and benefits of different
interventions
 Establish climate change focal points
 Establish programmes to reduce GHG emissions by
the health sector
Reduce Risks from Climate
Change in Other Key Sectors
 Incorporate current and projected climate change
risks into existing policies, legislation, strategies,
and measures of key development sectors to
control climate-sensitive health outcomes
 Facilitate the health sector to actively participate
in national communications to the United
Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC), and include health issues as the core
elements in the negotiation process
 Ensure active health participation in the national
climate change team
WHO Support: Global Work Plan to
Protect Health from Climate Change

Aim: Support health systems in all countries,
identify strategies and actions, share knowledge
and good practices
1. Provide awareness and capacity building in addressing the
challenges posed to health by climate change for healthsector professionals, other key sector NGOs, youth
groups, and consumer organizations and networks
2. Support the empowerment of local communities to
become more climate change resilient
3. Strengthen health systems capacity and notably that of
public health programmes that are already addressing
climate-sensitive diseases
4. Engage in partnerships with other sectors and agencies at
national, regional, and international levels
5. Promote and support the generation of scientific evidence
through research
Creating Awareness: World
Health Day 2008
 World Health Day (WHD) 2008 focused on the theme
“Protecting health from climate change” and was
commemorated in all SEA region countries
 WHO-SEARO (Southeast Asia Regional Office) produced
an information kit containing materials to promote
commitment and drive action for change among all
sectors of society to work together and reduce the
adverse impacts of climate change on human health
 Most WHD 2008 celebrations in SEA countries saw the
active participation of national health authorities who
declared their commitment – such as in India, Maldives,
and Myanmar – to engage the health sector much more
in addressing the challenges posed by climate change
 More at: www.searo.who.int/
Bangladesh
 Objectives for health action:
– To increase knowledge and
awareness of the health
consequences from climate
change within and outside
the health sector
– To prepare mitigation and adaptation plans based
on a vulnerability assessment of the national
health systems
– To ensure coordination with, and advocate for,
decisions on climate change in other key sectors
that enhance public health
Bhutan
National health priorities are:
1. Overall awareness on climate change
and climate variability and its adverse
impacts on human health are increased
and staff are trained
http://ksjtracker.mit.edu
2. Emergency preparedness plans to reduce life loss
and injury from flash floods are developed
3. The burden from disease vectors is reduced
through the implementation of community-based,
integrated vector management
4. Rural water quality and sanitation are improved
and maintained by the concerned communities
Indonesia
 Priority activities outlined
to be initiated:
– Increase public awareness
– Develop and disseminate
IEC materials to minimize GHG emissions
– Capacity building within the health sector
– Expand research and development on climate change and
health effects
– Update national health policy to increase resilience to
climate change issues
– Adapt to potential health risks from water and food
scarcity
– Coordinate and network with relevant sectors and actors,
with particular focus on health
India
The National Climate Change Action Plan
considers eight missions, but no specific
one focuses on health concerns
 A Task Force has been set up to prioritize
health action, inter alia by conducting
multicentric studies to assess:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Respiratory diseases sensitive to climate change
Links between water quality and diarrhoeal disease and climate change
(Bay of Bengal, Ganges – Brahmaputra river basin, a priority area)
The impact on ocular health
Vulnerability assessment of malaria, dengue, chikungunya, and Japanese
encephalitis (JE), to provide evidence for taking proactive measures vis a
vis climate change effects
How to develop infrastructure in primary health centres to handle
psychiatry cases due to loss of property and life
Impact of climate change on major crops, to map adaptive capacity and
improve supply food during droughts
 Institutes/persons have been identified for undertaking
studies on vulnerability assessment and adaptation needs
Nepal
 Improve the understanding of public health
authorities on the linkages between climate
change/variability and health
 Conduct research for evidence generation
 Assess vulnerabilities and identify
interventions for
mitigation and for adaptation
 Identify adaptation needs and options
derived from the challenges posed by
future sudden and/or large climate changes
 Improve current public health programmes
in intersectoral collaboration with the Ministries (water,
agriculture, urban development, etc.)
 Strengthen institutions and mechanisms that can
systematically promote interactions among researchers,
policymakers, and other stakeholders
Maldives
 Maldives revised its NAPA in 2009
 The main health components
focus on:
– Assessing health vulnerability
and identify adaptation measures
– Adapting to sea-level rise
Source: earthobservatory.nasa
– Conserving water and harvesting rainwater
– Implementing sanitation and sound waste
management
– Implementing an integrated approach to manage
disease vectors
– Preparing to respond better to health impacts from
extreme weather events
Thailand
 Build capacity to adapt and reduce
vulnerabilities to climate change
 Promote greenhouse gas mitigation
activities based on sustainable
development
 Support research and development to
better understand climate change,
its impacts, and adaptation and mitigation options
 Raise awareness and promote public participation
 Build capacity of relevant personnel and institutions,
and establish a framework of coordination and
integration
 Support international cooperation to achieve the
common goal of climate change mitigation and
sustainable development
Conclusions
 While the awareness that climate change is
happening now has increased immensely in the
last two years in most SEA countries, health
professionals have not yet fully understood the
implications for health and the urgency for
action
 National climate action plans have been
prepared by most countries, yet the health
dimensions are still neglected
 At the same time, there are national experts in
many countries who have gathered evidence on
health impacts and prepared proposals for
action
Conclusions (cont.)
 Most actions focus on awareness building,
capacity development, and research and policy
development; few focus on supporting
community resilience
 Health sector does not yet fully participate in
national, regional, or global debates on climate
change
 The actions plans developed with support from
WHO need to be integrated into national plans
and institutionalized to ensure their
implementation
 A positive step forward is this course!