Climate Change and Health
Call for holistic and transformative change
Dechasa Adare
Haramaya University
Call for holistic and transformative change
8/30/2023
Introduction
• Currently climate change has increased the frequency and intensity of severe
weather events across the world.
• This is likely because of a variety of interconnected processes, including:• An overall warming trend
• Changing precipitation patterns and
• Rising sea level
• We are now regularly seeing events and disasters that previously occurred
only rarely.
Call for holistic and transformative change
8/30/2023
• These disasters disproportionately harm poor people in low-income regions
 That have had minimal contributions to the emission of GHG.
• Despite an overall decreasing trend, direct fossil fuel subsidies increased to
US$440 billion in 2021, which is a worrisome rise from levels below US$200
billion.
• The global GHG emissions-weighted average price per tonne of carbon
dioxide (approximately US$14.20 as of 2022).
Call for holistic and transformative change
8/30/2023
Human activities are driving
the
global
warming
trend
observed since the mid-20th
century.
Call for holistic and transformative change
8/30/2023
Global mean GHG and temperature
• Three major GHG:Carbon dioxide
Methane
Nitrous oxide
• In March of 2022, carbon dioxide concentration reached 418 ppm, the highest
monthly global average concentration ever recorded.
• In addition, 2022 is on track to be one of the hottest years on record.
Call for holistic and transformative change
8/30/2023
Climate impacts
• Disasters associated to climate change have been steeply trending upward.
• Climate change has been linked to increases in both the frequency and intensity
of extreme heat events
• The number of extremely hot days has nearly doubled since 1980.
• Globally, roughly 500,000 deaths between 2000 and 2019 were heat related
• The heat-related excess death ratio rose significantly from 2000–2003 to
2016–2019
Call for holistic and transformative change
8/30/2023
Climate policy
• Most planetary boundaries that regulate the state of the Earth are beyond their
safe space.
• Therefore, climate change is not a stand-alone issue.
• It is part of a larger problem of ecological overshoot where human demand is
exceeding the regenerative capacity of the biosphere.
• Humanity cannot sustain unlimited growth in a finite world.
• We need to address ecological overshoot, while at the same time ramping up
climate action.
Call for holistic and transformative change
8/30/2023
• Climate influences the transmission of many infectious diseases
• Some of which being among the most important causes of death and morbidity
in developing countries.
• Commonly, these diseases occur as epidemics which may be triggered by variations
in climatic conditions that imply higher transmission rates.
• Now, strengthening early surveillance and response systems for climate sensitive
health hazards becomes fundamental under conditions of:• Rapid global environmental change
• Population movements
• Disease vectors and infections.
Call for holistic and transformative change
8/30/2023
Health impacts of climate change
• Climate change adversely impacts the lives and health of billions of people
• Climate change affects the most basic health requirements
• Clean air
• Safe water
• Sufficient food and
• Adequate shelter
• It also poses new challenges to the control of infectious diseases, and gradually
increases the pressure on:• The natural, economic and social systems that sustain health.
Call for holistic and transformative change
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• The health impacts of climate change may differ across populations, and are
dependent on several factors such as:• Existing vulnerability and
• Adaptive capacity:• To changing meteorological conditions
• The associated human and social consequences and
• Other determinants that include available resources, and behaviour
and attitudes of population groups.
Call for holistic and transformative change
8/30/2023
Vulnerability and adaptation assessments
• In order to adequately respond to the impacts of climate change, a first critical step is to assess which
populations and geographical areas are most vulnerable
• Identifying weaknesses in the systems that should protect population’s health as well as
adaptation options.
• Vulnerability and Adaptation assessments is important:• To improve the understanding of the linkages between climate change and health
• Serve as a baseline
• They can also provide the opportunity for building capacity and can strengthen the case for
investment in health protection.
Call for holistic and transformative change
8/30/2023
National adaptation strategies and plans
• The outcomes from Vulnerability and Adaptation assessments provide information
for decision makers to design their national strategies and the health component of
their national adaptation plans.
• Furthermore, strategies should include relevant topics such as:• How to best engage other health determining sectors and
• How to build the institutional, organizational and technical capacity to
effectively build the resilience of the health systems.
Call for holistic and transformative change
8/30/2023
• It is important to have a clear and practical guidance on:• How to monitor the implementation of relevant health adaptation projects
• Clear indicators, in order to understand the impact, and measure the scale and
nature of health vulnerability to climate change, the vulnerability of the health
sector and the main impacts on health as trends.
• Evaluation methods that allow understanding the effectiveness and costeffectiveness of interventions.
Call for holistic and transformative change
8/30/2023
Engagement with other sectors
• In order to effectively respond to the health impacts posed by climate change, the
health community has to engage several non-health sectors, including:• Water and sanitation
• Food
• Meteorological sector
• Energy
• Etc.
Call for holistic and transformative change
8/30/2023
Health co-benefits of climate action
• Currently, many studies are increasingly showing that the implementation of climate
policies leads to both cost savings and improvement in health.
• Mitigation of climate change in various sectors, including
• Housing
• Transportation and
• Energy
Has many co-benefits that lead to substantial health
gains and reduced health risks.
Call for holistic and transformative change
8/30/2023
Climate-resilient WASH toolkit
• It provides resources to support the effective integration of climate change, water
and health considerations into health and WASH policies and programmes to build
climate-resilient WASH.
• National policies, strategies and plans
• Resources for building
climate-resilient WASH
include:
• Vulnerability and adaptation assessment tools
• Training packages and
• Information, education, and communication materials
Call for holistic and transformative change
References
World Health Organization, Climate Change and Health and available at:https://www.who.int/teams/environment-climate-change-and-health/climatechange-and-health/capacity-building/toolkit-on-climate-change-andhealth/resilience , Last accessed on April 16,2023.
Dechasa Adare
Haramaya University, College of Health and Medical Science, Harar, Ethiopia
dechasaadare@gmail.com
8/30/2023
Call for holistic and transformative change
Thank You
8/30/2023