Stories

Tag: climate change

  • Colonization, climate change, and indigenous health: from Algiers to Acre

    Colonization, climate change, and indigenous health: from Algiers to Acre

    I sat in a conference hall in Rio Branco, Acre State, Brazil.

    My mind was in a sanatorium of Algiers, Algeria.

    This was where my mother was sent as a girl.

    They told her she got tuberculosis because she was an “indigène musulman”.

    In 1938, the year of my mother’s birth and after over a century of colonization, about 5 out of every 100 Algerian people got infected with tuberculosis each year.

    French colonial reports show that Algerians died from tuberculosis at much higher rates than French settlers.

    They claimed the disease was endemic due to the supposed inferiority of our people.

    And that she was going to die.

    Colonialism is a liar.

    She survived.

    And it took less than eight years for an independent Algeria, free of the scourge of colonialism, to eradicate the scourge of TB.

    Listening to the leaders at Brazil’s First National Seminar on Indigenous Health and Climate Change, I heard that same lie being dismantled.

    The body of the territory, the body of the people

    I listened.

    I heard a diagnosis specific to their lands and histories, and recognized a familiar pattern.

    The territory is a living body, they said.

    When it is sick, we are sick.

    Ceiça Pitaguary is an indigenous leader and activist from the Pitaguary people in Brazil.

    The crisis, she explained, is a daily reality of “prolonged droughts, devastating floods, intense storms, and the rise in temperatures” that represents “real losses experienced in the body and on the territory”.

    This is a wound with many layers.

    There are the physical symptoms an epidemiologist would recognize: respiratory illnesses from fire and waterborne diseases from floods.

    But the deeper sickness that speakers diagnosed, one after another, is a systemic decay.

    I listened as Wallace Apurinã stated that when the floods come, “traditional medicine, which is such an important and fundamental knowledge for our subsistence… this ends”.

    It is a crisis that creates what Elisa Pankararu named a “collective sadness”.

    “Our people are sad,” she said, because the world is in imbalance.

    This is a spiritual wound, like the one Juliana Tupinikim described.

    She said the Krenak people lost not just a river to a mining disaster, but “fundamental elements of their spirituality and cultural identity”.

    The crisis, Gemina Shanenawá insisted, is not abstract.

    “It has a face, a name, and a territory: the face of Indigenous women”.

    She gave voice to their struggle: “‘I lost everything, I lost my house, I lost my pigs, my chickens. And now? What am I going to do?’”.

    The architecture of failure

    There is a pathogen worse than fossil fuel.

    It is colonialism.

    I recognized its stench in the testimony of the leaders.

    It is a system designed to fail its most vulnerable.

    Weibe Tapeba, Brazil’s Secretary of Indigenous Health, described the paralysis.

    “Today, our Indigenous territories are not understood as federal units,” he said.

    This means that they are unable to issue crucial decrees themselves, which severely hinders their ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from increasingly frequent catastrophic events.

    “We do not have the autonomy to issue such a decree ourselves”.

    This intentional powerlessness leaves communities exposed.

    It creates the chain reaction that researcher Renata Gracie detailed in the Yanomami territory, where illegal mining leads directly to “an enormous increment in the occurrence of malaria, trachoma, measles, tuberculosis, malnutrition”.

    The state’s response—culturally inappropriate food baskets were one example I heard—is changing.

    It was impressive to see how government, with leadership from Tapeba and others, engages in meaningful, open dialogue by and for indigenous communities.

    What you call anecdote, we call ancestral science

    An invisible but profound violence of colonization is the dismissal of a people’s way of knowing.

    Your science is ’data’.

    Ours is ’folklore’.

    The entire seminar was a rebellion against this lie.

    In my own talk, I spoke about how health workers’ expertise – what they know because they are there every day – is often devalued as mere “anecdote”.

    Putira Sacuena provided the most powerful rebuttal.

    She spoke of a small frog in the Xingu territory.

    “We stopped hearing its sound in the territory”, she explained.

    The frog’s silence predicted the rise in respiratory illness and diarrhea.

    She said: this is ancestral science.

    It is a signal from a highly sophisticated, multi-generational system of environmental monitoring.

    Our existing systems do not just miss this data.

    They are structurally incapable of recognizing it as data in the first place.

    The challenge, then, is to begin the work of unlearning the colonial biases that prevent us from seeing the knowledge that is right in front of us.

    It requires us to abandon the “high, hard ground” of our self-referential expertise.

    The fight for health here is, more than we realized, a fight for cognitive justice, a demand that such knowledge be seen not as a cultural artifact, but as essential data.

    As Ceiça Pitaguary declared, “The fight against the climate crisis will not be won without Indigenous peoples”.

    That is not a political slogan.

    It is a vital, scientific truth of our time.

    It demands that we, in our institutions and our fields of practice, dismantle the systems that are causing this devastation.

    References

    1. Bentata, K., Alihalassa, S., Gharnaout, M., Bennani, M.A., Berrabah, Y., 2025. Algerian Tuberculosis Control Program: 60 Years of Successful Experience. Cureus. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.86357
    2. Brubacher, L.J., Peach, L., Chen, T.T.-W., Longboat, S., Dodd, W., Elliott, S.J., Patterson, K., Neufeld, H., 2024. Climate change, biodiversity loss, and Indigenous Peoples’ health and wellbeing: A systematic umbrella review. PLOS Glob Public Health 4, e0002995. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0002995
    3. Ellwanger, J.H., others, 2020. Beyond diversity loss and climate change: Impacts of Amazon deforestation on infectious diseases and public health. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciencias. https://doi.org/10.1590/0001-3765202020191010
    4. Ford, J.D., 2012. Indigenous Health and Climate Change. Am J Public Health 102, 1260–1266. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2012.300752
    5. Grande, A.J., Dias, I.M.A.V., Jardim, P.T.C., Aparecida Vieira Machado, A., Soratto, J., Da Rosa, M.I., Ceretta, L.B., Zourntos, X., Suares, R.O., Harding, S., 2024. Environmental degradation, climate change and health from the perspective of Brazilian Indigenous stakeholders: a qualitative study. BMJ Open 14, e083624. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-083624
    6. Jones, R., Macmillan, A., Reid, P., 2020. Climate Change Mitigation Policies and Co-Impacts on Indigenous Health: A Scoping Review. IJERPH 17, 9063. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17239063
    7. Kramer, C.K., Leitão, C.B., Viana, L.V., 2022. The impact of urbanisation on the cardiometabolic health of Indigenous Brazilian peoples: a systematic review and meta-analysis, and data from the Brazilian Health registry. The Lancet 400, 2074–2083. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)00625-0
    8. Lavallee, L.F., Poole, J.M., 2010. Beyond Recovery: Colonization, Health and Healing for Indigenous People in Canada. Int J Ment Health Addiction 8, 271–281. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-009-9239-8
    9. Lin, C.Y., Loyola-Sanchez, A., Boyling, E., Barnabe, C., 2020. Community engagement approaches for Indigenous health research: recommendations based on an integrative review. BMJ Open 10, e039736. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-039736
    10. Pontes, A.L., others, 2020. Health reform and Indigenous health policy in Brazil. Health Policy and Planning. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czaa116
    11. Rankoana, S.A., 2022. Climate change impacts on indigenous health promotion: the case study of Dikgale community in Limpopo Province, South Africa. Glob Health Promot 29, 58–64. https://doi.org/10.1177/17579759211015183
    12. Reading, C., Wien, F., 2009. Health inequalities and the social determinants of Aboriginal health. National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health.
    13. Redvers, N., Celidwen, Y., Schultz, C., Horn, O., Githaiga, C., Vera, M., Perdrisat, M., Mad Plume, L., Kobei, D., Kain, M.C., Poelina, A., Rojas, J.N., Blondin, B., 2022. The determinants of planetary health: an Indigenous consensus perspective. The Lancet Planetary Health 6, e156–e163. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00354-5
    14. Rieger, K.L., Horton, M., Copenace, S., Bennett, M., Buss, M., Chudyk, A.M., Cook, L., Hornan, B., Horrill, T., Linton, J., McPherson, K., Rattray, J.M., Murray, K., Phillips-Beck, W., Sinclair, R., Slavutskiy, O., Stewart, R., Schultz, A.S., 2023. Elevating the Uses of Storytelling Methods Within Indigenous Health Research: A Critical, Participatory Scoping Review. International Journal of Qualitative Methods 22, 16094069231174764. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069231174764
    15. Roher, S.I.G., Yu, Z., Martin, D.H., Benoit, A.C., 2021. How is Etuaptmumk/Two-Eyed Seeing characterized in Indigenous health research? A scoping review. PLoS ONE 16, e0254612. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254612
    16. Sadki, R., 2025. Climate change and health: a new peer learning programme by and for health workers from the most climate-vulnerable countries. https://doi.org/10.59350/redasadki.21339
    17. Sadki, R., 2001. Colonialism and disease: tuberculosis in Algeria. https://doi.org/10.59350/jhbhx-zm765
    18. Sadki, R., 2024. Knowing-in-action: Bridging the theory-practice divide in global health. https://doi.org/10.59350/4evj5-vm802
    19. Sadki, R., 2024. Strengthening primary health care in a changing climate. https://doi.org/10.59350/5s2zf-s6879
    20. Sadki, R., 2025. WHO Global Conference on Climate and Health: New pathways to overcome structural barriers blocking effective climate and health action. https://doi.org/10.59350/redasadki.21322
    21. Sanchez, J.J., Gitau, E., Sadki, R., Mbuh, C., Silver, K., Berry, P., Bhutta, Z., Bogard, K., Collman, G., Dey, S., Dinku, T., Dwipayanti, N.M.U., Ebi, K., Felts La Roca Soares, M., Gudoshava, M., Hashizume, M., Lichtveld, M., Lowe, R., Mateen, B., Muchangi, M., Ndiaye, O., Omay, P., Pinheiro dos Santos, W., Ruiz-Carrascal, D., Shumake-Guillemot, J., Stewart-Ibarra, A., Tiwari, S., 2025. The climate crisis and human health: identifying grand challenges through participatory research. The Lancet Global Health 13, e199–e200. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2214-109x(25)00003-8
    22. Sahu, M., others, 2022. Measuring Impact of Climate Change on Indigenous Populations’ Health: A Global Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192315592
    23. Sanson‐Fisher, R.W., Campbell, E.M., Perkins, J.J., Blunden, S.V., Davis, B.B., 2006. Indigenous health research: a critical review of outputs over time. Medical Journal of Australia 184, 502–505. https://doi.org/10.5694/j.1326-5377.2006.tb00343.x
    24. Santos, H.C.D., Mill, J.G., 2024. Multimorbidity and associated factors in the adult Indigenous population living in villages in the municipality of Aracruz, Espírito Santo, State, Brazil. Cad. Saúde Pública 40, e00135323. https://doi.org/10.1590/0102-311xen135323
    25. Silva-Junior, C.H.L., others, 2023. Brazilian Amazon indigenous territories under climate and deforestation pressure: an analysis of 2013-2021 period. Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-31570-y
    26. Smallwood, R., Woods, C., Power, T., Usher, K., 2021. Understanding the Impact of Historical Trauma Due to Colonization on the Health and Well-Being of Indigenous Young Peoples: A Systematic Scoping Review. J Transcult Nurs 32, 59–68. https://doi.org/10.1177/1043659620935955
    27. Soares, G.H., Jamieson, L., Biazevic, M.G.H., Michel-Crosato, E., 2022. Disparities in Excess Mortality Between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Brazilians in 2020: Measuring the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 9, 2227–2236. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-021-01162-w
    28. Thebaud, A., Lert, F., 1985. Maladie subie, maladie dominee, industrialisation et technologie medicale: Le cas de la tuberculose. Social Science & Medicine 21, 129–137. https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(85)90081-4
    29. Thomas, A., 2024. Colonization as a Determinant of Health. Western University Global Health Equity.
    30. US Environmental Protection Agency, 2025. Climate Change and the Health of Indigenous Populations. EPA.
    31. World Health Organization, 2025. Global Plan of Action for Health of Indigenous Peoples. WHO.

    Image: The Geneva Learning Foundation Collection © 2025

  • WHO Global Conference on Climate and Health: New pathways to overcome structural barriers blocking effective climate and health action

    WHO Global Conference on Climate and Health: New pathways to overcome structural barriers blocking effective climate and health action

    After the World Health Assembly’s adoption of ambitious global plan of action for climate and health, global and country stakeholders are meeting in Brasilia for the Global Conference on Climate and Health, ahead of COP30. Three critical observations emerged that illuminate why conventional global health approaches may be structurally inadequate for the challenges resulting from climate change impacts on health.

    These observations carry particular significance for global health leaders who now possess a WHA-approved strategy and action plan, but lack proven mechanisms for rapid, community-led implementation in the face of an unprecedented set of challenges. They also matter for major funders whose substantial investments in policy and research have yet to be matched by commensurate support for the communities and health workers who will be the ones to translate better science and policy into action.

    Signal 1: When funding disappears and demand explodes

    Seventy percent of global health funding vanished, virtually overnight. This collapse comes precisely when the World Health Organization projects a shortage of 10 million health workers by 2030—six million in climate-vulnerable sub-Saharan Africa.

    The World Bank calculates that climate change will generate 4.1-5.2 billion disease cases and cost $8.6-20.8 trillion by 2050 in low- and middle-income countries alone. Health systems must simultaneously manage unprecedented demand with drastically reduced resources.

    Traditional technical assistance—flying experts to conduct workshops, cascade training through hierarchies—is more difficult to resource. By comparison, peer learning networks can reduce costs by 86 percent while achieving implementation rates seven times higher than conventional methods. Furthermore, 82 percent of participants in such networks continue independently after formal interventions end. Peer learning is especially well-suited to include health workers in conflict zones, refugee settings, and remote areas where climate vulnerability peaks—precisely the locations where traditional expert-led capacity building proves most difficult and expensive.

    The funding crisis makes it more of an imperative than ever before to examine which approaches can scale effectively when resources contract. Organizations that recognize this shift early could achieve breakthrough results as traditional approaches become unaffordable.

    Signal 2: Global expertise meets local reality

    The World Health Assembly continues producing comprehensive action plans backed by thousands of expert hours. The climate and health action plan represents the pinnacle of this approach—technically excellent, evidence-based, globally applicable.

    Yet the persistent implementation gap reflects deeper challenges about how knowledge flows between institutions and communities. Current theories of change assume that technical expertise, properly communicated, will lead to improved outcomes. Local knowledge gets framed as “barriers to implementation”, rather than recognized as essential intelligence for adaptation.

    This creates a paradox. The WHO recognizes that “community-led initiatives that harness local knowledge and practices” are “fundamental for creating interventions that are both culturally appropriate and effective.” Health workers possess sophisticated understanding of how global frameworks must adapt to local realities. But systematic mechanisms for capturing and integrating knowledge and action remain underdeveloped.

    Climate change manifests differently in each community—shifting disease patterns in Kenya differ from changing agricultural cycles in Bangladesh, which differ from altered water availability in Morocco. Health workers witness these changes daily, developing contextual responses that often remain invisible to global institutions. The question becomes whether global frameworks can evolve to recognize and systematically integrate this distributed intelligence rather than treating it as anecdotal evidence.

    Signal 3: The policy-people gap widens if field-building ignores communities and is disconnected from local action

    Substantial philanthropic funding is flowing toward climate and health policy and evidence generation. Some funders call this “field-building”. Research institutions develop sophisticated models. Policy frameworks become more comprehensive. Scientific understanding advances rapidly. These investments are producing genuinely better science and more effective policies—essential progress that must continue.

    Yet investment in communities and health workers—the people who must implement policies and apply evidence—remains disproportionately small. This disparity creates concerning dynamics where knowledge advances faster than the capacity to apply it meaningfully in communities.

    The risk extends beyond implementation gaps. When sophisticated policies and evidence develop without commensurate investment in community relationships, communities may reject even superior science and policies—not because they are irrational or too ignorant to recognize the benefits, but because the effort to accompany communities through change has been insufficient. Health workers, as trusted advisors within their communities, are uniquely positioned to bridge this gap by helping communities make sense of new evidence and adapt policies to local realities.

    Health workers serve as trusted advisors within communities facing climate impacts. When investment patterns overlook this relationship, sophisticated policies risk becoming irrelevant to the people they aim to help. The trust networks essential for translating evidence into community action – and ensuring that evidence is relevant and useful – receive less attention than the evidence itself.

    The pathway forward: Health workers as knowledge creators and leaders of change

    These three signals point toward a fundamental misalignment between how global institutions approach climate and health challenges and how communities experience them. The funding crisis makes traditional expert-led approaches unsustainable. Implementation gaps persist because local knowledge remains systematically undervalued. Investment patterns favor sophisticated frameworks over the human relationships needed to apply them effectively.

    When a community health worker in Nigeria notices malaria cases appearing earlier each season, or a nurse in Bangladesh observes heat-related illness patterns in specific neighborhoods, they are detecting signals that epidemiological studies might take years to document formally. This represents a form of “early warning system” that current approaches tend to overlook.

    Recent innovations demonstrate different possibilities. Networks connecting health practitioners across countries through digital platforms treat health workers as knowledge creators rather than knowledge recipients. Such approaches have achieved, in other fields, implementation rates seven times higher than conventional technical assistance while reducing costs by 86 percent. There is no reason why applying these approaches would not result in similar results. 

    For the World Health Organization, such approaches could offer pathways to operationalize the Global Plan of Action through the very health workers the organization recognizes as “uniquely positioned” to champion climate action while building essential community trust.

    For major funders, these models represent opportunities to complement policy and research investments with approaches that strengthen community capacity to apply sophisticated knowledge to local realities.

    The evidence suggests that failure to bridge these gaps could prove more costly than the investment required to close them. But the returns—measured in communities reached, knowledge applied, and trust maintained—justify treating health worker networks as essential infrastructure for climate and health response rather than optional additions.

    Three questions for leaders

    As leaders prepare for the Global Climate Change and Health conference in Brasilia and begin work to implement climate and health commitments, three questions emerge from the World Health Assembly observations:

    • For institutions with comprehensive plans: How will technical excellence translate into community-level implementation when traditional capacity building approaches have become economically unsustainable?
    • For funders investing in research and policy: How can sophisticated evidence and frameworks reach the health workers and communities who must apply them to local realities?
    • For all climate and health leaders: What happens when policies advance faster than the trust relationships and implementation capacity needed to apply them effectively?

    The signals from the World Health Assembly suggest that conventional approaches face structural constraints that incremental improvements cannot address. The funding crisis, implementation gaps, and investment disparities require responses that recognize health workers as partners in creating climate and health solutions rather than merely implementing plans created elsewhere.

    The choice is not whether to transform approaches—resource constraints and community realities make transformation inevitable. The choice is whether leaders will direct that transformation toward approaches that strengthen both global knowledge and local capacity, or risk watching sophisticated frameworks fail for lack of community connection and trust.

    References

    Miller, J., Howard, C., Alqodmani, L., 2024. Advocating for a Healthy Response to Climate Change — COP28 and the Health Community. N Engl J Med 390, 1354–1356. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp2314835

    Sanchez, J.J., Gitau, E., Sadki, R., Mbuh, C., Silver, K., Berry, P., Bhutta, Z., Bogard, K., Collman, G., Dey, S., Dinku, T., Dwipayanti, N.M.U., Ebi, K., Felts La Roca Soares, M., Gudoshava, M., Hashizume, M., Lichtveld, M., Lowe, R., Mateen, B., Muchangi, M., Ndiaye, O., Omay, P., Pinheiro Dos Santos, W., Ruiz-Carrascal, D., Shumake-Guillemot, J., Stewart-Ibarra, A., Tiwari, S., 2025. The climate crisis and human health: identifying grand challenges through participatory research. The Lancet Global Health. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(25)00003-8

    Sadki, R., 2024. Health at COP29: Workforce crisis meets climate crisis. https://doi.org/10.59350/sdmgt-ptt98

    Sadki, R., 2024. Strengthening primary health care in a changing climate. https://doi.org/10.59350/5s2zf-s6879

    Sadki, R., 2024. The cost of inaction: Quantifying the impact of climate change on health. https://doi.org/10.59350/gn95w-jpt34

    Image: The Geneva Learning Foundation Collection © 2025

  • You are not alone: Health workers are sharing how they protected their communities when extreme weather hit

    You are not alone: Health workers are sharing how they protected their communities when extreme weather hit

    Today, The Geneva Learning Foundation launched a new set of “Teach to Reach Questions” focused on how health workers protect community health during extreme weather events. This initiative comes at a crucial time, as world leaders at COP29 discuss climate change’s mounting impacts on health.

    As climate change intensifies extreme weather events worldwide, health workers are often the first to respond when disasters strike their communities. Their experiences – whether facing floods, droughts, heatwaves, or storms – contain vital lessons that could help others prepare for and respond to similar challenges.

    Read the eyewitness report: From community to planet: Health professionals on the frontlines of climate change, Online. The Geneva Learning Foundation. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10204660

    Why ask health workers about floods, droughts, and heatwaves?

    “Traditional surveys often ask for general information or statistics,” explains Charlotte Mbuh of The Geneva Learning Foundation. “Teach to Reach Questions are different. We ask health workers to share specific moments – a time when they had to act quickly during a flood, or how they kept services running during a drought. These stories of extreme weather events reveal not just what happened, but how people actually solved problems on the ground.”

    The questions cover six key scenarios:

    1. Disease outbreaks during floods
    2. Health impacts of drought
    3. Care delivery during heatwaves
    4. Mental health support before, during, and after
    5. Maintaining healthcare access
    6. Quick action and local solutions to protect health

    Each scenario includes detailed prompts that help health workers recall and share the specifics of their experience: What exactly did they do? Who helped? What obstacles did they face? How did they know their actions made a difference?

    Strengthening local action: From individual experience to collective learning to protect community health

    What makes Teach to Reach Questions unique is not just how they are asked, but what happens next. Every experience of an extreme weather event shared becomes part of a larger learning process that benefits the entire community.

    “We don’t just collect these experiences – we give them back,” says Reda Sadki, President of The Geneva Learning Foundation. “Whether someone shares their own story or not, they gain access to the complete collection of experiences of extreme weather events. This creates a virtuous cycle of peer learning, where solutions discovered in one community can help another on the other side of the world.”

    The process unfolds in four phases:

    1. Experience Collection: Health workers share their stories through structured questions ahead of the live Teach to Reach event
    2. Live Event: During the Teach to Reach live event, Contributors who shared their experience are invited to do so in plenary sessions. Everyone can listen in – and join one-to-one networking sessions to learn from the experiences of colleagues from all over the world.
    3. Analysis and Synthesis: After the live event, the Foundation’s Insights team works with the Teach to Reach community to identify patterns, innovations, and key lessons
    4. Knowledge Sharing: Insights are returned to the community through comprehensive collections of experiences, thematic insights reports, and Insights Live sessions

    Building momentum for Teach to Reach 11

    These questions are part of the lead-up to Teach to Reach 11, scheduled for December 5-6, 2024. The experiences shared will inform discussions among the 23,000+ registered participants from over 70 countries.

    “But the learning starts now,” emphasizes Mbuh. “Health workers who request their invitation today can immediately begin sharing and learning from peers. The earlier they join, the more they can benefit from this collective knowledge exchange.”

    Why protecting community health against extreme weather events matters

    As extreme weather events become more frequent and severe, the expertise of health workers who have already faced these challenges becomes increasingly valuable.

    “These aren’t just stories – they’re a vital source of knowledge for protecting community health in a changing climate,” says Sadki. “By sharing them widely, we help ensure that health workers everywhere are better prepared when extreme weather strikes their communities.”

    Health professionals interested in participating can request their invitation.

    Listen to the Teach to Reach podcast:

    Is your organisation interested in learning from health workers? Learn more about becoming a Teach to Reach partner.

    Image: The Geneva Learning Foundation Collection © 2024

  • Anecdote or lived experience: reimagining knowledge for climate-resilient health systems

    Anecdote or lived experience: reimagining knowledge for climate-resilient health systems

    A health worker in rural Kenya notices that malaria cases are appearing earlier in the season than usual.

    A nurse in Bangladesh observes that certain neighborhoods are experiencing more heat-related illnesses despite similar temperatures.

    These observations often remain trapped in the realm of “anecdotal evidence.” 

    The dominant epistemological framework in public health traditionally dismisses such knowledge as unreliable, subjective, and of limited scientific value.

    This dismissal stems from a deeply-rooted global health paradigm that privileges quantitative data, randomized controlled trials, and statistical significance over the nuanced, contextual understanding that emerges from direct experience.

    The phrase “it’s just anecdotal” has become a subtle but powerful way of delegitimizing knowledge that does not conform to established scientific methodologies.

    Yet this epistemological stance creates a significant blind spot in our understanding of how climate change affects health at the community level.

    Climate change manifests in complex, locally specific ways that often elude traditional epidemiological surveillance systems.

    The health worker who notices shifting disease patterns or the community nurse who identifies vulnerable populations possesses what philosopher Donald Schön termed “knowing-in-action” – a form of knowledge that emerges from sustained engagement with complex, dynamic situations.

    Experiential knowledge often precedes formal scientific understanding, particularly in the context of climate change where impacts are emerging and evolving rapidly.

    Health workers’ observations are not mere anecdotes but rather early warning signals of climate-health relationships that would take years to document through traditional research methods.

    Why would we build early warning systems that ignore the significance or value of health worker observations and insights?

    Is the risk of error greater than the risk of inaction?

    In late 2023, more than 1 million people were displaced by flooding from intense rainfall in parts of Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia, attributed to a combination of climate change and the Indian Ocean Dipole, a natural climate phenomenon.

    Are there signals that health workers might be attuned to, alongside weather systems to measure them?

    The challenge, then, is not to replace scientific methodologies but to develop new epistemological frameworks that can integrate different forms of knowing.

    This requires recognizing that knowledge exists on a spectrum rather than in hierarchical tiers.

    Experiential knowledge, systematic observation, statistical analysis, and randomized controlled trials each offer different and complementary insights into complex climate-health relationships.

    A new epistemological framework would recognize that the health worker who notices changing disease patterns is engaging in what anthropologist James Scott calls “mētis” – a form of practical knowledge that comes from intimate familiarity with local conditions.

    Is this knowledge necessarily less valuable than statistical data or no data?

    It is different and often provides crucial context that helps interpret quantitative findings.

    Let us imagine how this integration might work in practice.

    In the Philippines, a climate-health surveillance system could combine traditional epidemiological data with structured documentation of health workers’ observations.

    Health workers would use a mobile app to share unusual patterns or emerging concerns with each other.

    This could then be analyzed alongside conventional surveillance data.

    Such an approach could identify climate-health relationships that are not visible through standard surveillance alone.

    Health workers can also form “knowledge circles” in which they regularly meet to share observations and insights about climate-related health impacts.

    These observations can then be systematically documented and analyzed, creating a bridge between experiential knowledge and formal evidence bases.

    When patterns emerge across multiple knowledge circles, they trigger more formal investigation.

    This shift requires rethinking how we validate knowledge.

    Instead of asking whether an observation is “merely anecdotal,” we might ask: What does this observation tell us about local conditions? How does it complement our quantitative data? What patterns emerge when we more systematically collect and analyze experiential knowledge?

    The implications of this epistemological shift extend beyond climate change.

    By recognizing the value of experiential knowledge, health systems will become more adaptive and responsive to emerging challenges.

    Health workers, feeling their knowledge is valued, become more engaged in systematic observation and documentation.

    Communities, seeing their experiences reflected in health system responses, develop greater trust in health institutions.

    However, this shift faces significant challenges.

    Academic institutions, funding bodies, and policy makers often remain wedded to traditional hierarchies of evidence.

    Publishing systems privilege certain types of knowledge over others.

    Career advancement often depends on producing conventional scientific evidence rather than integrating different forms of knowing.

    Overcoming these challenges requires institutional change.

    Medical and public health education needs to incorporate training in recognizing and documenting experiential knowledge.

    Research methodologies need to expand to include systematic ways of collecting and analyzing practical knowledge.

    Funding mechanisms need to support projects that bridge different epistemological approaches.

    The climate crisis demands this evolution in how we think about knowledge.

    As health systems face unprecedented challenges, we cannot afford to ignore any source of understanding about how climate change affects human health.

    The health worker’s observation, the community’s experience, and the statistician’s analysis all have crucial roles to play in building climate-resilient health systems.

    This is not about replacing scientific rigor but about expanding our understanding of what constitutes valid knowledge.

    By creating frameworks that can integrate different forms of knowing, we strengthen our ability to respond effectively to the complex challenges posed by climate change.

    The future of climate-resilient health systems depends not just on what we know, but on how we think about knowing itself.

    References

    Haines, A., Kimani-Murage, E.W., Gopfert, A., 2024. Strengthening primary health care in a changing climate. The Lancet 404, 1620–1622. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(24)02193-7

    Jones, I., Mbuh, C., Sadki, R., Eller, K., Rhoda, D., 2023. On the frontline of climate change and health: A health worker eyewitness report. The Geneva Learning Foundation. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.10204660

    Jones, I., Mbuh, C., Sadki, R., Steed, I., 2024. Climate change and health: Health workers on climate, community, and the urgent need for action. The Geneva Learning Foundation. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.11194918

    Romanello, M., et al. The 2024 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: facing record-breaking threats from delayed action. The Lancet 404, 1847–1896. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(24)01822-1

    Schön, D.A., 1995. Knowing-in-action: The new scholarship requires a new epistemology. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning 27, 27–34.

    Scott, J.C., 2020. Seeing like a state: how certain schemes to improve the human condition have failed. ed, Yale agrarian studies. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT London.

  • Experiences shared at Teach to Reach 10

    Experiences shared at Teach to Reach 10

    Before, during, and after Teach to Reach on 20-21 June 2024, 21,398 health workers across the Global South—from veteran national managers to newly-trained community health workers—shared their unfiltered, frontline experiences of delivering care in an increasingly complex world.

    Ahead of Teach to Reach 11, The Geneva Learning Foundation has just released the English-language collection of “Experiences shared“.

    A second collection of experiences shared by French-speaking participants is also available.

    This remarkable collection captures over 600 experiences that health workers shared, in their own words, offering rare, ground-level perspectives on how global health challenges manifest in communities.

    Themes and topics explored in this collection:

    • How we use what we learn from Teach to Reach
    • Learning culture and performance
    • On the frontlines of climate change and health
    • Health workers insights to end malaria
    • Health workers insights to fight neglected tropical diseases
    • Integration of health services
    • Health workers insights on e-health
    • 50 years of the Expanded Programme for Immunization

    Through questions that probe specific moments rather than seeking generalizations, these accounts detail personal encounters with everything from climate change’s effects on malaria transmission to the challenges of integrating immunization with other health services.

    Health workers share candid stories of their successes, failures, and innovations: using WhatsApp for vaccine advocacy, adapting disease control strategies as weather patterns shift, building community trust during mass drug administration campaigns, and more.

    While these experiences are inherently context-specific and should not be mistaken for systematic evidence, their value lies in illuminating the lived reality of health service delivery—the kind of rich, qualitative insight that often eludes formal research.

    The collection represents a mosaic of perspectives from different levels of the health system, each contributor speaking in a personal capacity about their direct observations and experiences.

    This comprehensive volume is part of Teach to Reach, an ongoing cycle of learning and exchange facilitated by The Geneva Learning Foundation.

    Contributors receive back the complete collection of shared experiences, enabling them to learn from peers facing similar challenges across contexts.

    The experiences are also available as focused thematic publications on specific topics such as malaria control, climate change adaptation, and immunization integration.

    Finally, an accompanying insights report provides concise thematic summaries and analysis of key learnings about each of the topics that were explored.

    Whether your focus is immunization, digital health, climate change adaptation, or disease control, these raw accounts provide crucial context for anyone seeking to bridge the gap between global health policy and local implementation.

    Rather than providing definitive answers, this volume offers a unique window into how health workers learn, adapt, and drive change in their communities—making it an invaluable complement to traditional evidence for understanding and improving global health delivery.

    These Shared Experiences should be required reading for global health practitioners, policymakers, and researchers interested in understanding how macro-level health challenges and interventions play out on the ground.

    The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF). (2024). Teach to Reach 10. Experiences shared (1.0). Teach to Reach 10, Online. The Geneva Learning Foundation. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13366491

    La Fondation Apprendre Genève. (2024). Teach to Reach 10. Expériences partagées (1.0). Teach to Reach 10, En ligne. La Fondation Apprendre Genève (TGLF). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13769081

  • World Health Summit: to rebuild trust in global health, invest in health workers as community leaders

    World Health Summit: to rebuild trust in global health, invest in health workers as community leaders

    Discussions at the World Health Summit in Berlin this week have rightly emphasized the role of health workers, especially those directly serving local communities.

    Health workers stand at the intersection of climate change and community health.

    They are first-hand eyewitnesses and the first line of defense against the impacts of climate on health.

    There is real horror in the climate impacts on health they describe.

    Read the Health Worker Eyewitness reports “Climate change and health: Health workers on climate, community, and the urgent need for action“ and “On the frontline of climate change and health: A health worker eyewitness report”.

    There is also real hope in the local solutions and strategies they are already implementing to help communities survive such impacts, most often without support from their government or from the global community.

    There is no alternative to the health workforce as the ones most likely to drive effective adaptation strategies and build trust when it comes to climate change and health.

    Their unique value stems from several key factors:

    1. Firsthand experience: Health workers witness the direct and indirect health impacts of climate change daily, providing valuable insights.
    2. Community trust: As respected figures in their communities, health workers can effectively communicate climate-health risks and promote adaptive behaviors.
    3. Local knowledge: Their deep understanding of local contexts allows for the development of tailored, culturally appropriate solutions.
    4. Existing infrastructure: Health workers represent an established network that is already having to respond to climate change.

    As Dr. Maria Neira from the World Health Organization emphasized at Teach to Reach 10 in June 2024: “We need to use our voice, the power of the voice of health, to convince governments to do three things. First, accelerate the transition to clean sources of energy to stop this disaster. Second, to accelerate the transition to sustainable food systems. And third, to accelerate the transition to better planning of urban areas…” Learn more about Teach to Reach.

    However, current global health investments often overlook the potential of health workers.

    Furthermore, there is a tendency to see them as instruments to implement national plans and policies and recipients for knowledge about climate change that they are assumed to be lacking.

    This fails to recognize the potential of health workers to lead, not just execute plans, in the face of climate change impacts on health.

    It also fails to recognize the significance and value of local knowledge and experience that health workers hold because they are there every day.

    A shift in focus could make health workers the most obvious “best buy” for governments and international funders.

    By investing in health workers as agents of change, we can leverage an existing, trusted workforce to rapidly scale up adaptation efforts and rebuild trust in global health initiatives.

    One innovative model developed by The Geneva Learning Foundation has shown promise in this area, connecting over 60,000 health practitioners across 137 countries and reaching frontline government staff working for health in conflict zones and other challenging contexts.

    This approach not only maximizes the impact of climate-health investments but also strengthens health systems overall, creating a win-win scenario for global health and climate resilience.

    Image: The Geneva Learning Foundation Collection © 2024

  • Klepac and colleagues‘ scoping review of climate change, malaria and neglected tropical diseases: what about the epistemic significance of health worker knowledge?

    Klepac and colleagues‘ scoping review of climate change, malaria and neglected tropical diseases: what about the epistemic significance of health worker knowledge?

    By Luchuo E. Bain and Reda Sadki

    The scoping review by Klepac et al. provides a comprehensive overview of codified academic knowledge about the complex interplay between climate change and a wide range of infectious diseases, including malaria and 20 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

    The review synthesized findings from 511 papers published between 2010 and 2023, revealing that the vast majority of studies focused on malaria, dengue, chikungunya, and leishmaniasis, while other NTDs were relatively understudied.

    The geographical distribution of studies also varied, with malaria studies concentrated in Africa, Brazil, China, and India, and dengue and chikungunya studies more prevalent in Australia, China, India, Europe, and the USA.

    One of the most striking findings of the review is the potential for climate change to have profound and varied effects on the distribution and transmission of malaria and NTDs, with impacts likely to vary by disease, location, and time.

    However, the authors also highlight the uncertainty surrounding the overall global impact due to the complexity of the interactions and the limitations of current predictive models.

    This underscores the need for more comprehensive, collaborative, and standardized modeling efforts to better understand the direct and indirect effects of climate change on these diseases.

    Another significant insight from the review is the relative lack of attention given to climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies in the existing literature.

    Only 34% of the included papers considered mitigation strategies, and a mere 5% addressed adaptation strategies.

    Could we imagine future mapping to recognize the value of new mechanisms for and actors of knowledge production that do not meet the conventional criteria for what currently counts as valid knowledge?

    What might be the return on going at least one step further beyond questioning our own underlying assumptions about ‘how science is done’ to actually supporting and investing in innovative indigenous- and community-led, co-created initiatives?

    This gap highlights the urgent need for more research on how to effectively reduce the impact of climate change on malaria and NTDs, particularly in areas with the highest disease burdens and the populations most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

    While the review emphasizes the need for more research to fill these evidence gaps, this begs the question of the resources and time required to fill them.

    This is where there is likely to be value in the experiential data from health workers on the frontlines to provide insights into the mechanisms of climate change impacts on health and effective response strategies.

    The upcoming Teach to Reach 10 event (background | registration) , a massive open peer learning platform that brings together health professionals from around the world to network and learn from each other’s experiences, offers a unique opportunity to engage thousands of health workers in a dialogue that can deepen our understanding of how climate change is affecting the health of local communities.

    Experiential data has been, historically, dismissed as ‘anecdotal’ evidence at best.

    The value and significance of what you know because you are there every day, serving the health of your community, has been ignored.

    The expertise and knowledge of frontline health workers are often overlooked or undervalued in global health decision-making processes, despite their critical role in delivering health services and their deep understanding of local contexts and challenges.

    Yes, the importance of incorporating the insights and experiences of health workers in the global health discourse cannot be overstated.

    As Abimbola and Pai (2020) argue, the decolonization of global health requires a shift towards valuing and amplifying the voices of those who have been historically marginalized and excluded from the dominant narratives.

    This concept, known as epistemic justice, recognizes that knowledge is not solely the domain of academic experts but is also held by those with lived experiences and practical expertise (Fricker, 2007).

    Epistemic injustice, as defined by Fricker (2007), occurs when an individual is wronged in their capacity as a knower, either through testimonial injustice (when a speaker’s credibility is undervalued due to prejudice) or hermeneutical injustice (when there is a gap in collective understanding that disadvantages certain groups).

    In the context of global health, epistemic injustice often manifests in the marginalization of knowledge held by communities and health workers in low- and middle-income countries, as well as the dominance of Western biomedical paradigms over local ways of knowing (Bhakuni & Abimbola, 2021).

    By engaging health workers from around the world in peer learning and knowledge sharing, Teach to Reach can help to challenge the epistemic injustice that has long plagued global health research and practice.

    By providing a platform for health workers to share their experiences and insights, Teach to Reach – alongside many other initiatives focused on listening to and learning from communities – can contribute to ensuring that the fight against malaria and NTDs in the face of climate change is informed not only by rigorous scientific evidence but also by the practical wisdom of those on the ground.

    That is only if global partners are willing to challenge their own assumptions, and take the time to listen and learn.

    Moreover, the decolonization of global health requires a shift towards more equitable and inclusive forms of knowledge production and dissemination.

    This involves challenging the historical legacies of colonialism and racism that have shaped the global health field, as well as the power imbalances that continue to privilege certain forms of knowledge over others (Büyüm et al., 2020).

    By fostering a dialogue between health workers and global partners, Teach to Reach can help to bridge the gap between research and practice, ensuring that the latest scientific findings are effectively translated into actionable strategies that are grounded in local realities and responsive to the needs of those most affected by climate change and infectious diseases.

    The value of experiential data from health workers in filling evidence gaps and informing effective response strategies cannot be understated.

    As the Klepac review highlights, there is a paucity of research on the impacts of climate change on many NTDs and the effectiveness of mitigation and adaptation strategies.

    While more rigorous scientific studies are undoubtedly needed, waiting years or decades for this evidence to accumulate before taking action is not a viable option given the urgency of the climate crisis and its devastating impacts on health.

    Health workers’ firsthand observations and experiences can provide valuable insights into the complex mechanisms through which climate change is affecting the distribution and transmission of malaria and NTDs, as well as the effectiveness of different intervention strategies in real-world settings.

    This type of contextual knowledge is essential for developing locally tailored solutions that account for the unique social, cultural, and environmental factors that shape disease dynamics in different communities.

    Furthermore, engaging health workers as active partners in research and decision-making processes can help to ensure that the solutions developed are not only scientifically sound but also feasible, acceptable, and sustainable in practice.

    The involvement of frontline health workers in the co-creation of knowledge and interventions can lead to more effective, equitable, and context-specific solutions that are responsive to the needs and priorities of local communities.

    References

    Abimbola, S., & Pai, M. (2020). Will global health survive its decolonisation? The Lancet, 396(10263), 1627-1628. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32417-X

    Bhakuni, H., & Abimbola, S. (2021). Epistemic injustice in academic global health. The Lancet Global Health, 9(10), e1465-e1470. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(21)00301-6

    Büyüm, A. M., Kenney, C., Koris, A., Mkumba, L., & Raveendran, Y. (2020). Decolonising global health: If not now, when? BMJ Global Health, 5(8), e003394. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2020-003394

    Fricker, M. (2007). Epistemic injustice: Power and the ethics of knowing. Oxford University Press.

    Klepac, P., et al., 2024. Climate change, malaria and neglected tropical diseases: a scoping review. Transactions of The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. https://doi.org/10.1093/trstmh/trae026

  • Climate change and health: Health workers on climate, community, and the urgent need for action

    Climate change and health: Health workers on climate, community, and the urgent need for action

    As world leaders gathered for the COP28 climate conference, the Geneva Learning Foundation called for the insights of health workers on the frontlines of climate and health to be heard amidst the global dialogue.

    Ahead of Teach to Reach 10, a new eyewitness report analyses 219 new insights shared by 122 health professionals – primarily those working in local communities across Africa, Asia and Latin America – to two critical questions: How is climate change affecting the health of the communities you serve right now? And what actions must world leaders take to help you protect the people in your care?

    (Teach to Reach is a regular peer learning event. The tenth edition on 20-21 June 2024 is expected to gather over 20,000 community-based health workers to share experience of climate change impacts on health. Request your invitation here.)

    Their answers paint a picture of the accelerating health crisis unfolding in the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions. Community nurses, doctors, midwives and public health officers detail how volatile weather patterns are driving up malnutrition, infectious disease, mental illness, and more – while simultaneously battering health systems and blocking patient access to care.

    Yet woven throughout are also threads of resilience, ingenuity and hope. Health advocates are not just passively observing the impacts of climate change, but actively responding – often with scarce resources. From spearheading tree-planting initiatives to strengthening infectious disease surveillance to promoting climate literacy, they are innovating locally-tailored solutions.

    Importantly, respondents emphasize that climate impacts cannot be viewed in isolation, but rather as one facet of the interlocking crises of environmental destruction, poverty, and health inequity. Their insights make clear that climate action and community health are two sides of the same coin – and that neither will be achieved without deep investment in local health workforces and systems.

    Rooted in direct lived experience and charged with moral urgency, these frontline voices offer a stirring reminder that climate change is not some distant specter, but a life-and-death challenge already at the doorsteps of the global poor. As this new collection of insights implores, it’s high time their perspectives moved from the margins to the center of the climate debate.

    As Charlotte Mbuh of The Geneva Learning Foundation explains: “We hope that the chorus of voices will grow to strengthen the case for  why and how investment in human resources for health is likely to be a ‘best buy’ for community-focused efforts to build the climate resilience of public health systems.”

    Jones, I., Mbuh, C., Sadki, R., & Steed, I. (2024). Climate change and health: Health workers on climate, community, and the urgent need for action (1.0). The Geneva Learning Foundation. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11194918

  • Climate change and health: perspectives from developing countries

    Climate change and health: perspectives from developing countries

    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.

    Investing in the health workforce is vital to tackle climate change: A new report shares insights from over 1,200 on the frontline

    Climate change is a threat to the health of the communities we serve: health workers speak out at COP28

    The Geneva Learning Foundation, a Swiss non-profit, facilitated a special event “From community to planet: Health professionals on the frontlines of climate change” on 28 July 2023, engaging 4,700 health practitioners from 68 countries who shared 1,260 observations.

    “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).

    Photo: The Geneva Learning Foundation Collection © 2024

  • Making the invisible visible: storytelling the health impacts of climate change

    Making the invisible visible: storytelling the health impacts of climate change

    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.