Climate and Health: Outcome of the first ever health day at COP

In 2023, the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was held at Expo City, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from the 30th November 2023 to 13th December, 2023. It was on the fourth day of COP28 that the first Health Day at a COP summit took place with a plan to showcase the links between health and climate change, a topic neglected in the past 28 years of COPs.

The first-ever Health Day which was a project undertaken by the COP 28 Presidency served as a means of reinforcing the critical connections between health and climate within the action agenda — an essential element of resilience-building that prioritizes people. The Health Day focused on 5 key topics:

• Demonstrating the solid evidentiary foundation and distinct causal relationships between climate change and human health.
• Highlighting the “health arguments for climate action” and the ways in which health can be enhanced by mitigation.
• Highlighting the requirements, obstacles, and best practices for enhancing health systems’ climate resilience.
• Determining and implementing adaptation strategies to mitigate the effects of climate change on public health.
• Taking action at the nexus of health and relief, recovery and peace.

The day was a significant milestone because as climate impacts worsen, the harm to health comes into sharper focus. Human health is profoundly affected by weather and climate, as today’s health issues, such as mortality from extreme weather events, infectious diseases, heart and lung conditions, and malnutrition, are made worse by climate change. These climate impacts could also jeopardize infrastructure, water and food supply, health care systems, and social safety nets, further making it more difficult to respond to the health impacts of climate change.

Life-threatening temperature spikes are occurring more frequently. The spread of fatal infectious diseases is increasing because more climate conditions are suitable for vectors, and scientists and doctors are seeing increased incidence of infectious diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. Weather extremes are making food and shelter insecure for millions of people, as this year’s Countdown report emphasises. 2022 was the deadliest summer on record due to heatwaves across Europe, accounting for an estimated 61,000 deaths. The number of fatalities during the even hotter summer of 2023 has not yet been tallied. Heat-related mortality among adults over 65 has increased by more than 50% in the last 20 years with higher temperatures being linked to increased dehydration and renal function loss, dermatological malignancies, tropical infections, pregnancy complications, and cardiovascular and pulmonary morbidity and mortality.

By 2030, an estimated 50% of the world’s population will live in coastal areas exposed to flooding, storms and tsunamis. The West and Central Africa region is particularly vulnerable to sudden onset events such as floods, and is also exposed to land degradation, water scarcity and coastal erosion. Globally floods have created an “unprecedented” number of cholera outbreaks, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Cholera comes from a water-borne bacteria and increased floods means an increased exposure to the disease. The most vulnerable groups are disproportionately affected by these risks, including children, older populations, ethnic minorities, poorer communities, and those with underlying health issues. Most of the world’s children, who suffer disproportionately from climate change, live in countries that are thought to be highly vulnerable to its consequences.

It is therefore not surprising that during COP28, several installations and gatherings including the World Health Organization (WHO) Health Pavilion, kept reiterating the impact of the climate crisis on public health related stories; citing increased incidences of infectious diseases and interactions with non-communicable diseases. The day culminated in a new Declaration on Climate and Health, signed by 124 countries, with the express aims of preparing healthcare systems to cope with climate change and acknowledging the need for governments to protect people’s health.

One of Health Day’s positive outcomes was the emergence of collaborations: US $1 billion in funding was announced to begin implementing the health declaration, with contributions from Green Climate Fund, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Global Fund, and the Asian Development Bank. The WHO, alongside others, developed a set of financing principles for health and climate initiatives to help support implementation of fund arrangements. It is. expected that some of these funds will be allocated to both climate and health research as well as international advocacy. Given the recent launch of the Guiding Principles for Financing Climate and Health Solutions by a consortium of 41 multilateral development banks, governments, and philanthropies, additional funding may be anticipated in the coming years. While current levels of funding are insufficient compared to the scale of needs, these commitments indicate a growing understanding of the connections between health and climate change that can be further developed in the future.

My main takeaway from listening in on some of the Climate and Health discussions and observing the funds raised is that a significant portion of these funds ought to go towards strengthening and empowering national and local health systems in the most vulnerable countries. These countries made minimal contributions to climate change but are disproportionately affected by it, and primary health care services serve as many communities’ only point of access and are crucial in providing mental health support — a critical response to the major health implications of the climate crisis. Therefore, it is imperative that these services be strengthened. In addition to calling for a stronger emphasis on developing climate risk and vulnerability assessments for high-risk communities, the UAE’s Declaration on Climate and Health emphasizes the need of strengthening health systems to anticipate and implement adaptation measures against climate-sensitive health risks (such as surveillance, early warning and response systems, and climate-health information services). The vulnerable must be meaningfully included in the management, decision-making, and oversight of the new Climate and Health Fund.

Climate and Health day at COP28 highlighted the importance of looking at the intersections between climate and health but what can be done to ensure that health is continually taken seriously in subsequent summits?

To hold health ministers, international and national health organizations accountable for the promises made during COP28, I propose that we continuously advance the agenda related to climate change and health systems through education, research, capacity building, and policy influence at our various state and national levels (with ministries of health as well as climate negotiators and activists). By doing this, many of the plans presented will be realized, and funds committed will become available and disbursed to those in greatest need.

Ifechi Anikwe is Lead, Climate and Youth at Clean Technology Hub.