On International Nurses Day, The Geneva Learning Foundation stands in solidarity with the over 28 million nurses worldwide who form the backbone of health systems globally.
As an organization dedicated to researching, developing, and implementing new approaches to learning and leadership for health, we recognize the vital role of nurses in driving progress towards global health goals, including the health-related Sustainable Development Goals and Universal Health Coverage.
Nurses represent a significant proportion of participants in our Teach to Reach peer learning programme, which exemplifies commitment to lifelong learning and desire to connect with and learn from colleagues around the world to improve practice.
Teach to Reach is the world’s largest health peer learning event, bringing together tens of thousands of health professionals, primarily from low- and middle-income countries, in dynamic digital convenings. Request your invitation
It exemplifies our vision of empowering health workers as agents of change through digitally-enabled collaborative learning and knowledge sharing.
For its tenth edition on 20-21 June 2024, Teach to Reach focused on the critical issue of climate change and health.
Nurses are already finding themselves on the frontlines in supporting communities to navigate the increasing health risks posed by a changing climate.
As trusted members of the communities they serve, nurses are uniquely positioned to strengthen resilience and lead adaptations to protect health.
Through platforms like Teach to Reach, The Geneva Learning Foundation aims to elevate nurses’ voices and insights, facilitating the rapid exchange of locally-tailored solutions to shared challenges.
We call on global health leaders to recognize the expertise that nurses hold as a result of their proximity to communities, and to systematically include nurses in policy dialogues and decision-making on the health impacts of climate change.
On this International Nurses Day, we reaffirm our commitment to leveraging the power of digital networks and innovative learning approaches to support nurses in their vital work to protect and promote health.
Through strong partnerships and by empowering nurses as leaders, we believe it is possible to build resilient, equitable and sustainable health systems in a changing climate.
À l’occasion de la Journée internationale des infirmières, La Fondation Apprendre Genève est solidaire des plus de 28 millions d’infirmières et d’infirmiers dans le monde qui constituent l’épine dorsale des systèmes de santé à l’échelle internationale.
En tant qu’organisation dédiée à la recherche, au développement et à la mise en œuvre de nouvelles approches de l’apprentissage et du leadership pour la santé, nous reconnaissons le rôle vital des infirmières et infirmiers dans la réalisation de progrès vers les objectifs de santé globale, y compris les Objectifs de développement durable liés à la santé et la Couverture santé universelle.
Les infirmiers représentent une proportion importante des participants à notre programme d’apprentissage par les pairs Teach to Reach, qui illustre l’engagement en faveur de l’apprentissage tout au long de la vie et le désir de tisser des liens avec des collègues du monde entier et de partager l’expérience afin d’améliorer les pratiques.
Teach to Reach est le plus grand événement que nous connaissons de partage d’expérience dans le domaine de la santé au monde, réunissant des dizaines de milliers de professionnels de la santé, principalement issus de pays à revenu faible ou intermédiaire, dans le cadre de rassemblements digitaux dynamiques. Demandez votre invitation
Il illustre notre vision de l’autonomisation des travailleurs de la santé en tant qu’agents de changement grâce à l’apprentissage collaboratif et au partage des connaissances par voie numérique.
Pour sa dixième édition, Teach to Reach s’était concentré sur la question cruciale du changement climatique et de la santé.
Les infirmières se retrouvent déjà en première ligne pour aider les communautés à faire face aux risques sanitaires croissants posés par le changement climatique.
En tant que membres de confiance des communautés qu’elles servent, les infirmières sont particulièrement bien placées pour renforcer la résilience et mener les adaptations nécessaires à la protection de la santé.
Grâce à des plateformes telles que Teach to Reach, La Fondation Apprendre Genève vise à élever les voix et les points de vue des infirmières et infirmiers, facilitant l’échange rapide de solutions adaptées localement à des défis partagés.
Nous appelons les leaders de la santé globale à reconnaître l’expertise que les infirmières détiennent du fait de leur proximité avec les communautés, et à inclure systématiquement les infirmières dans les dialogues politiques et les prises de décision sur les impacts sanitaires du changement climatique.
En cette Journée internationale des infirmières, nous réaffirmons notre engagement à tirer parti de la puissance des réseaux digitaux et des approches d’apprentissage innovantes pour soutenir les infirmières dans leur travail vital de protection et de promotion de la santé.
Grâce à des partenariats solides et à l’autonomisation des infirmières en tant que leaders, nous pensons qu’il est possible de mettre en place des systèmes de santé résilients, équitables et pérennisés dans un contexte de changement climatique.
Aujourd’hui, à l’occasion de la Journée mondiale contre le paludisme, la Fondation Apprendre Genève est fière de se tenir aux côtés des travailleurs de la santé en première ligne dans la lutte contre cette maladie.
Le paludisme reste un problème de santé majeure, affectant de manière disproportionnée les communautés d’Afrique et d’Asie.
C’est pourquoi la lutte contre le paludisme sera au cœur de Teach to Reach 10, un événement phare qui permet à des milliers de professionnels de santé du monde entier de partager leurs expériences, leurs réussites et leurs défis.
Teach to Reach est une plateforme qui facilite l’apprentissage par les pairs afin de mener des actions locales sur des questions de santé urgentes.
Lors de Teach to Reach 10 le 21 juin 2024, nous nous concentrerons sur la menace urgente que représente le changement climatique pour la santé, en mettant particulièrement l’accent sur la façon dont l’évolution des conditions environnementales modifie le paysage du risque de paludisme et de la riposte à ce fléau.
Le leadership des professionnels de la santé est essentiel pour une vision intégrée de la lutte contre le paludisme par et pour les communautés locales
La hausse des températures, les phénomènes météorologiques extrêmes et l’évolution des précipitations créent des conditions idéales pour la prolifération des moustiques vecteurs du paludisme, exposant ainsi les communautés à des risques accrus.
Des acteurs comme Yapoulouce Bamba, de Guinée, ont observé cette tendance inquiétante : «La dégradation de l’environnement a créé davantage de lieux de reproduction pour les moustiques. Pendant la saison des pluies, on observe une augmentation exponentielle des populations de moustiques, ce qui accroît le nombre de cas de paludisme.»
De la gouvernance internationale à l’action locale : comment Teach to Reach peut contribuer à transformer la déclaration de Yaoundé en action locale
Lors de la conférence Teach to Reach 10, nous discuterons de la manière de transformer l’engagement des dirigeants africains dans la déclaration de Yaoundé en actions concrètes, menées localement pour accélérer la lutte contre le paludisme.
En rassemblant les acteurs de la santé pour partager des solutions locales et renforcer la résilience, nous soutenons l’appel de la déclaration en faveur de l’investissement dans la recherche et l’innovation, de la collaboration transfrontalière et de l’engagement des communautés en tant que partenaires dans la lutte contre le paludisme.
Teach to Reach incarne ainsi la vision de cette Déclaration, qui consiste à soutenir ceux qui sont en première ligne de la lutte contre le paludisme en leur apportant les connaissances, les outils et la solidarité dont ils ont besoin pour avoir un impact transformateur dans leurs communautés.
Nous avons besoin d’inventer de nouvelles façons de mener le changement
En cette Journée mondiale contre le paludisme, nous invitons tous ceux qui se sont engagés à mettre fin à cette maladie à se joindre à nous pour apprendre et écouter auprès des agents de santé de première ligne.
Leurs voix, leurs expériences et leur leadership sont essentiels pour stimuler l’action locale et la collaboration internationale nécessaires pour vaincre cette menace persistante dans un climat changeant.
Ensemble, nous pouvons trouver de nouvelles façons de mener le changement pour construire un avenir sans paludisme, pour tous.
Today, on World Malaria Day, the Geneva Learning Foundation is proud to stand with health workers on the frontlines of the fight against this deadly disease.
Malaria remains a critical global health challenge, disproportionately affecting communities in Africa and Asia.
That’s why we’re putting malaria at the heart of the agenda for Teach to Reach 10, our landmark event connecting tens of thousands of health workers worldwide to share their experiences, successes, and challenges.
Teach to Reach is a unique platform that enables health workers to learn from each other, contribute to global knowledge, and drive local action on pressing health issues.
At Teach to Reach 10 this June, we will be focusing on the urgent threat of climate change to health, with a special emphasis on how changing environmental conditions are altering the landscape of malaria risk and response.
Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and changing rainfall patterns are creating ideal conditions for malaria-carrying mosquitoes to thrive, putting communities at greater risk.
Health workers like Yapoulouce Bamba from Guinea have observed this worrying trend: “The degradation of the environment has created more breeding grounds for mosquitoes. During the rainy season, there is a noticeable exponential increase in mosquito populations, which in turn raises the number of malaria cases.”
World Malaria Day: From global governance to local action: how Teach to Reach can contribute to turning the Yaoundé Declaration into local action
At Teach to Reach 10, we’ll be discussing how to turn the commitment of African leaders in the Yaoundé Declaration into locally-led action to accelerate action against malaria.
By bringing together health workers to share local solutions and build resilience, we are supporting the Declaration’s call for investment in research and innovation, cross-border collaboration, and engagement of communities as partners in the malaria fight.
Teach to Reach embodies the Declaration’s vision of supporting those at the forefront of the malaria fight with the knowledge, tools, and solidarity they need to drive transformative impact in their communities.
We need new ways to learn and lead
On this World Malaria Day, we invite all those committed to ending malaria to join us in listening to and learning from frontline health workers.
Their voices, experiences, and leadership are key to driving the local action and global collaboration needed to overcome this persistent threat in a changing climate.
New ways to learn and lead are vital so that we can build a healthier, malaria-free future for all.
Today, the Geneva Learning Foundation’s Charlotte Mbuh delivered a scientific presentation titled “On the frontline of climate change and health: A health worker eyewitness report” at the University of Hamburg’s Online Expert Seminar on Climate Change and Health: Perspectives from Developing Countries.
Mbuh shared insights from a report based on observations from frontline health workers on the impact of climate change on health in their communities.
“93% of respondents believed that there was a link between climate change and health, and they reported a direct local experience of a wide range of climatic and environmental impacts,” Mbuh stated.
The most commonly reported impacts were on farming and farmland, the distribution of disease-carrying insects, and urban areas becoming hotter.
Health impacts linked to these climatic and environmental changes included increased malnutrition and/or undernutrition, increased waterborne diseases, and changes to the incidence and distribution of vector-borne diseases.
Mbuh emphasized that these impacts were particularly prevalent in smaller communities or mid-sized towns.
Mbuh highlighted the unique role of frontline health workers as trusted advisors to their communities: “Frontline health workers are trusted advisors of the communities that they serve, and they have unique insights to local realities and are strategically positioned to bring about change,” she said.
The Geneva Learning Foundation aims to leverage its digitally-enabled peer learning network of health workers to drive change across different levels of the health system and geographical boundaries.
Mbuh concluded : “These experiences demonstrate the importance of community engagement, sustainable practices, and support from relevant stakeholders in addressing the climate health nexus and building resilience in the face of a changing climate.”
The presentation underscored the urgent need to invest in frontline health workers at the local level to build resilience against the impacts of climate change on health, particularly in vulnerable communities in developing countries.
The event was organized by the International Expert Centre of Climate Change and Health (IECCCH) at the Research and Transfer Centre Sustainable Development and Climate Change Management, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, in collaboration with the European School of Sustainability Science and Research (ESSSR), the UK Consortium on Sustainability Research (UK-CSR), and the Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme (IUSDRP).
On March 18, 2024, the Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) hosted a workshop bringing together 553 health workers from 55 countries with TGLF’s First Fellow of Photography and award-winning photographer Chris de Bode. Watch the workshop in English and in French. Poor connectivity? Get the audio-only podcast.
The dialogue focused on exploring the power of health workers who are there every day to communicate the impacts of climate change on the health of those they serve. Learn more…
The Geneva Learning Foundation’s exploration of visual storytelling began, two years ago, with a simple yet powerful call to action for World Immunization Week: “Would you like to share a photo of your daily work, the work that you do every day?” Over 1,000 photos were shared within two weeks. “We repeated this in 2023, to show that it is people who make #VaccinesWork”, explains Charlotte Mbuh, the Foundation’s deputy director. Watch the 2022 and 2023 events, as well as the inauguration of the First International Photography Exhibition of the Movement for Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030).
In July 2023, over 4,700 health professionals – primarily government workers from 68 low and middle-income countries – responded to the call to share their firsthand observations of the impacts of climate change on health. Watch the special event “From community to planet: Health professionals on the frontlines of climate change“… Get the insights report…
That is when Chris de Bode, who has spent decades documenting global health stories, expressed his excitement to flip the script:
“Over the last two years, we received so many pictures about your daily work. By asking you a new question, a different angle on what you work on, we can go a little bit deeper in what you actually do. Since you are on the front line everywhere in the world, it’s super interesting to create a collection of images to show the world and also show each other within the community.”
What would Taphurother Mutange, a community health worker from Kenya, want to show in the photos she will take?
“What I want to show to people is the floods. In my community where I work, the floods were too much. Water went into a house where there was a 12-year-old girl sleeping. The water carried the girl out, and up to date, as I’m talking, she has never been seen.”
She linked this devastation directly to health, adding, “So climate change goes together with health, because after the rains, the children, pregnant mothers, and even older people get sick, and you might see there’s not enough drugs in the facility. So we might even go on losing some lives.”
Brigitte Meugang, a health professional from Yaoundé, Cameroon, captured the essence of why visual storytelling matters:
“I’m attending this event because I believe that with a picture, you can say a thousand words.
And with a beautiful picture, you can learn a lot.
You can understand a lot.
And you can understand really the story just by looking at a picture, usually.”
Chris guided participants on the psychology and ethics of photography, the power of light, and how to create compelling visual narratives.
He challenged the idea that photos must be candid to be authentic.
“A picture is always subjective.
It’s your position as a photographer who decides which picture you take and what you want to tell with the image.
When I take portraits of people, I stage, and I always stage.”
Participants grappled with this in the context of their health work.
Emmanuel Musa, from Nigeria, highlighted the tension:
“Professionally, we’ve been asked to take pictures, action pictures, but not to have a kind of arranged, organized setting…
Because normally we look at pictures that are actionable, that probably funders can see, probably supervisors can see what’s happening in the field, instead of organizing a group picture, you set as if we’re in a studio.”
Aimée N’genda, a health worker from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), also emphasized the importance of consent and the risk of exploitation, especially in urban settings.
“Based on our experience, you need to ask for a written consent that you should keep, because you’ve got some people that will take advantage of it and think that when you take pictures of their children, they think you make money out of this, without paying them any fees.”
Despite the challenges, Chris affirmed the unique power health workers have as visual storytellers.
“You guys and ladies, you are there on the spot.
You’re there every day.
You have a large, large advantage on us, professional photographers who have to go there.”
Participants left energized to apply what they learned.
François Desiré, for example, declared, “I’m going to share pictures of mobile clinics that integrate immunization and nutrition.”
The dialogue equipped health workers to harness visual storytelling to communicate vital stories of how climate change impacts health in their communities, sparking change through the power of a single image.
The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) is actively seeking a donor or sponsor to support visual storytelling by health professionals.
Version française: Raconter la santé en image: un atelier photo avec Chris de Bode pour Teach to Reach 10
This story was written by generative AI, based on a word-for-word transcript of the workshop.
Image: Screen shot of the chat during the workshop “Visual storytelling for health” on 18 March 2024.
544 health care workers from 44 countries have already confirmed their participation. 80% of participants are sub-national staff working in fragile contexts. Most work for their country’s ministry of health.
Chris deBode spent decades on assignments, traveling around the globe for various NGOs, magazines, and newspapers.
Now, he has partnered with the Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) to share his experience with health practitioners who are there every day, as they learn to tell their own visual stories about immunization, the impacts of climate change on health, and other issues that matter for the communities they serve.
“Technical knowledge is not decisive in making your picture”, says Chris. “The person behind the camera makes the difference. You are the source of your image.”
The workshop is reserved for health professionals who contributed photos to the 2022 and 2023 Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030) Movement’s International Photo Exhibitions for World Immunization Week. However, it will also be livestreamed for everyone who has not previously been able to participate.
In 2022 and 2023, over 2,000 photos were shared by immunization staff from all over the world.
On 18 March 2024, health professionals from the following countries will be participating: Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, France, Gabon, Gambia, Germany, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, United States, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Photo by Chris deBode: Eleven-year-old Wilberforce runs along an unpaved road near his home in Gulu, Northen Uganda where he lives with his parents and 6 siblings. He says: “I want to be the fastest. I want my parents, my school and country to be proud of me. Every day I run. I dream of coming home with the biggest trophy.”
Watch the inauguration of the First International Photography Exhibition for Immunization Agenda 2030
Watch the Special Event: World Immunization Week 2023
Watch the Special Event: World Immunization Week 2022
GENEVA, Switzerland, 8 March 2024 – The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) is sharing a collection of stories titled “Women inspiring women”, shared by 177 women on the frontlines of health and humanitarian action.
The collection is a vibrant tapestry of women’s voices from the frontlines of health and humanitarian action, woven together to showcase the resilience, passion, and leadership of women who are making a difference in the face of war, disease, and climate change.
TGLF reached out to women in its global network of more than 60,000 health workers, inviting them to share their heartfelt advice and vision for the future with young women and girls.
Health workers in this network, men and women, are on the frontlines of adversity: they work in remote rural areas or with the urban poor. Many support the needs of nomadic and migrant populations, refugees, and internally-displaced populations (IDPs).
Imagine being able to sit down with a community health worker in Nigeria, a nurse in India, or a doctor in Brazil, and listen to their stories of triumph and struggle. “Women Inspiring Women” makes that possible, bringing together voices that are rarely heard on the global stage.
The responses are raw, honest, and deeply moving.
From remote villages to urban slums, women work to build a better future for their communities.
What makes this collection truly unique is its authenticity and diversity.
“In a world of war, disease, and a worsening climate, literacy is vital for the next generation of women and girls to make better choices concerning health, marriage, and income. Literacy is key in transforming households out of poverty, no matter who they are or where they are born.” – Hauwa Abbas, Public health specialist (MPH), Nigeria
Through their words, these women offer invaluable guidance to the next generation of female leaders. They share the lessons they’ve learned, the challenges they’ve faced, and the hopes they hold for a world where every girl can live a healthy, fulfilling life, no matter where she is born.
“Serving humanity as a health or humanitarian worker is one of the most rewarding careers one can engage in. Though it requires a lot of hard work more importantly and what is usually not thought about is the heart work it involves. The ability to empathize with the sick and those in humanitarian needs is a key ingredient for success.” – Ngozi Kennedy MB ChB, MPH, Public health specialist, Ethiopia
“This collection is a celebration of the incredible resilience and leadership of women health workers and humanitarians worldwide,” said TGLF Executive Director Reda Sadki. “It’s a testament to the power of storytelling to inspire change and unite us in our shared vision for a better future.”
“Insist on making generational impact as a woman against ALL odds! Don’t give up, don’t give in, don’t give way! Persistence wears out resistance! This is my success story today as I battled many challenges to establish rotavirus surveillance in my country as well as rotavirus vaccine introduction advocacy which has finally culminated in the vaccine introduction in Nigeria.” – Professor Beckie Tagbo, Doctor, Institute of Child Health, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, Nigeria
In the lead up to International Women’s Day, TGLF has been sharing sneak peeks of the stories and quotes on its social media platforms. Follow along on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram and Telegram to get a glimpse of the inspiration that awaits.
“Women Inspiring Women” is more than just a collection of stories. It’s a rallying cry for gender equality, a celebration of women’s leadership, and a reminder of the incredible impact one voice can have. Get ready to be inspired, moved, and empowered by the voices of women health workers and humanitarians worldwide.
Join us in amplifying the voices of these extraordinary women and creating a world where every girl can thrive.
“Resilience and determination in the face of difficulties will be essential – it is vital not to be deterred or discouraged when faced with setbacks of adversity, which are an inevitability in these spheres. Health or humanitarian work is all about people. There may be days where you question your decision and that is where determination keeps you going.” – Genise Pascal-Ferrer Iglesias, Coordinator of Imaging Services, Goodwill, Dominica
“Empowered women empower women. Ever since you were born, I kept you with me in all my philanthropic activities. […] I wish you all the blessings, happiness and success in life. Someday, you will write a similar letter to your own daughter saying, ‘Empowered women empower women’.” – Dr Faiza Rabbani, Public health specialist (MPH), Lahore District, Punjab Province, Pakistan
Created by a group of learning innovators and scientists with the mission to discover new ways to lead change, TGLF’s team combines over 70 years of experience with both country-based (field) work and country, region, and global partners.
Our small, fully remote agile team already supports over 60,000 health practitioners leading change in 137 countries.
We reach the front lines: 21% face armed conflict; 25% work with refugees or internally-displaced populations; 62% work in remote rural areas; 47% with the urban poor; 36% support the needs of nomadic/migrant populations.
TGLF’s unique package:
Helps local actors take action with communities to tackle local challenges, and
provides the tools to build a global network, platform, and community of health workers that can scale up local impact for global health.
The Geneva Learning Foundation is pleased to announce the tenth edition of Teach to Reach, to be held 20-21 June 2024.
Teach to Reach is a massive, open peer learning event where health professionals network, and learn with colleagues from all over the world. Request your invitation…
Teach to Reach 10 continues a tradition of groundbreaking peer learning started in 2020, when over 3,000 health workers from 80 countries came together to improve immunization training.
17,662 health professionals – over 80% from districts and facilities, half working for government – participated in Teach to Reach 9 in October 2023. Participants shared 940 experiences ahead of the event. See what we learned at Teach to Reach 9 or view Insights Live with Dr Orin Levine.
Teach to Reach is a platform, community, and network to amplify voices from lower-resource settings bearing the greatest burden of disease.
Poor connectivity? You will find the videos on this page in the low-bandwidth, audio-only Teach to Reach podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google, or Amazon Podcasts.
Alongside this theme, other critical health challenges selected by participants for this tenth edition include the Movement for Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030), neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), and neglected needs of women’s health.
In this video of a Teach to Reach session, learn about local action led by community-based health workers to tackle Female Genital Schistosomiasis (FGS), a neglected tropical disease that affects an estimated 56 million women and girls.
In the run-up to Teach to Reach 10, participants will share their real-world experience. Every success, lessons learned, and challenge will be shared back with the community and brought to the attention of partners.
A diverse range of over 50 global organizations have partnered with Teach to Reach since 2020, including Gavi the Vaccine Alliance, the Wellcome Trust, and UNICEF.
The next video is a session with UNICEF on reaching zero-dose children in urban settings.
Alongside global partners and ministries of health, local community-based organizations will also be invited to become Teach to Reach partners.
Partners are invited to join the first Partner Briefing on Monday 4 March 2024, bringing together global health organizations with a commitment to listening and learning from health workers and the communities they serve.
“The Imperative for Climate Action to Protect Health” is an article that examines the current and projected health impacts of climate change, as well as the potential health benefits of actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The authors state that “climate change is causing injuries, illnesses, and deaths, with the risks projected to increase substantially with additional climate change.”
Specifically, the article notes that approximately “250,000 deaths annually between 2030 and 2050 could be due to climate change–related increases in heat exposure in elderly people, as well as increases in diarrheal disease, malaria, dengue, coastal flooding, and childhood stunting.” The impacts will fall disproportionately on vulnerable populations, and climate change “could force more than 100 million people into extreme poverty by 2030.”
The article discusses major exposure pathways that link climate hazards to health outcomes like “heat-related illness and death, illnesses caused by poor air quality, undernutrition from reduced food quality and security, and selected vectorborne diseases.” It also notes that “the effects of climate change on mental health are increasingly recognized.”
Importantly, the authors argue that “opportunities exist to capitalize on environmental data to develop early warning and response systems” to help adaptation efforts. Furthermore, “investments in and policies to promote proactive and effective adaptation and reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions (mitigation) would decrease the magnitude and pattern of health risks.”
The article highlights that “transitions in land, energy, industry, buildings, transportation, and cities” aimed at “limiting global warming to 1.5°C” would bring substantial public health benefits. For example, “strong climate policies consistent with the 2°C Paris Agreement target could prevent approximately 175,000 premature deaths” in the US by 2030. More broadly, the authors state that “policies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in the energy sector, housing, transportation; and agriculture and food systems can result in near-term ancillary benefits to human health.”
The review thus underscores that “protecting [public] health demands decisive actions from health professionals and governments” in tackling climate change through adaptation and ambitious mitigation policies that yield health “co-benefits.”
What is the role of education?
The review article presents clear evidence that climate change is already severely harming public health, with escalating threats projected, particularly for vulnerable communities. It rightly argues that responding effectively requires urgent adaptation and emissions reductions prioritizing those most impacted.
However, conventional top-down approaches to climate and health in global health are unlikely to achieve the rapid, scalable results needed. Such traditional modalities tend to be ponderously slow, generate knowledge not readily actionable, and fail to reach those on the frontlines in marginalized locales.
Building a new scientific field around climate and health may take years using conventional approaches.
What we would wish for instead is a decentralized, grassroots peer learning system that can directly empower and assist under-resourced local health workers confronting growing climate-health crises.
Specifically, a digital network interconnecting one million such frontline personnel to share granular insights on how climate change is damaging community health in their areas.
This system would facilitate collaborative design of hyperlocal adaptation initiatives tailored to each locale’s distinct climate-health challenges.
It would channel localized knowledge to shape responsive national policies rooted in lived realities on the ground.
Digital tools would amplify voices of those observing firsthand impacts too often excluded.
And participatory methods would synthesize nuanced community observations lacking in conventional statistics.
This locally-attuned, equity-oriented learning infrastructure could unlock community leadership to catalyze climate-health solutions where needs are greatest.
It represents the kind of decentralized, rapidly scalable approach essential to address the review’s calls for urgent action assisting vulnerable groups most harmed by climate change.
Reference: Haines, A., Ebi, K., 2019. The Imperative for Climate Action to Protect Health. N Engl J Med 380, 263–273. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra1807873
