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Tag: health

  • The imperative for climate action to protect health and the role of education

    The imperative for climate action to protect health and the role of education

    “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

    Illustration: The Geneva Learning Foundation Collection © 2024

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

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

    The Geneva Learning Foundation’s Charlotte Mbuh spoke today at the COP28 Health Pavilion in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Watch the speech at COP28…

    Good afternoon. I am Charlotte Mbuh. I have worked for the health of children and families in Cameroon for over 15 years.

    I am one of more than 5,500 health workers from 68 countries who have connected to share our observations of how climate is affecting the health of those we serve. 

    “Going back home to the community where I grew up as a child, I was shocked to see that most of the rivers we used to swim and fish in have all dried up, and those that are still there have become very shallow so that you can easily walk through a river you required a boat to cross in years past.”

    These are the words of Samuel Chukwuemeka Obasi, a health worker from Nigeria.

    Dr Kumbha Gopi, a health worker from India said: “The use of motor vehicles has led to an increase in air pollution and we see respiratory problems and skin diseases”.

    Climate change is hurting the health of those we serve. And it is getting worse.

    Few here would deny that health workers are an essential voice to listen to in order to understand climate impacts on health.

    Yet, a man named Jacob on social media snapped: “Since when are health workers the authority on air pollution?”

    Here are the words of Bie Lilian Mbando, a health worker from my country: “Where I live in Buea, the flood from Mount Cameroon took away all belongings of people in my neighborhood and killed a secondary school student who was playing football with his friends.”

    Climate change is killing communities.

    Cecilia Nabwirwa, a nurse in Nairobi, Kenya: “I remember my grand-son getting sick after eating vegetables grown along areas flooded by sewage. Since then I resolved to growing my own vegetables to ensure healthy eating.”

    And yet, another man on social media, Robert, found this “ridiculous. As if my friend who sells fish at his fish stall comes as an expert on water quality.”

    I wondered: why such brutal responses?

    Well, unlike scientists or global agencies, we cannot be dismissed as “experts from on-high”.

    What we know, we know because we are here every day.

    We are part of the community.

    And we know that climate change is a threat to the health of the communities we serve.

    We are already having to manage the impacts of climate change on health.

    We are doing the best that we can.

    But we need your support.

    The global community is investing in building a new scientific field around climate and health.

    Massive investments are also being made in policy.

    Are we making a commensurate investment in people and communities?

    That should mean investing in health workers.

    What will happen if this investment is neglected?

    What if big global donors say: “it’s important, but it’s not part of our strategy?”

    Well, in 5, 10, or 15 years, we will certainly have much improved science and, hopefully, policy.

    Yet, some communities might reject better science and policy.

    Will the global community then wonder: “Why don’t they know what’s good for them?” 

    I am an immunization worker. For over 15 years, I have worked for my country’s ministry of health.

    Like my colleagues from all over the world, I know more than a little about what it takes to establish and maintain trust.

    Trust in vaccination, trust in public health.

    Trust that by standing together in the face of critical threats to our societies, we all stand to do better.

    Local communities in the poorest countries are already bearing the brunt of climate change effects on health.

    Local solutions are needed.

    Health workers are trusted advisors to the communities we serve.

    With every challenge, there is an opportunity.

    On 28 July 2023, 4,700 health workers began learning from each other through the Geneva Learning Foundation’s platform, community, and network.

    Thousands more are connecting with each other, because they choose to.

    And because they want to take action.

    It is our duty to support them.

    In March 2024, we will hold the tenth Teach to Reach conference.

    The last edition reached over 17,000 health workers from more than 80 countries.

    This time, our focus will be on climate and health.

    We invite global partners to join, to listen and to learn.

    We invite you to consider how you, your organization, your government might support action by health workers on the frontline.

    Because we will rise.

    As health workers, with or without your support, we will continue to stand up with courage, compassion and commitment, working to lift up our communities.

    Our perseverance calls us all to press forward towards climate justice and health equity.

    I wish to challenge us, as a global community, to rise together, so that  the voices of those on the frontline of climate change will be at the next Conference of Parties.

    By standing together, we all stand to do better.

    Thank you.

  • Before, during, and after COP28: Climate crisis and health, through the eyes of health workers from Africa, Asia, and Latin America 

    Before, during, and after COP28: Climate crisis and health, through the eyes of health workers from Africa, Asia, and Latin America 

    Samuel Chukwuemeka Obasi, a health professional from Nigeria:

    “Going back home to the community where I grew up as a child, I was shocked to see that most of the rivers we used to swim and fish in have all dried up, and those that are still there have become very shallow so that you can easily walk through a river you required a boat to cross in years past.”

    In July 2023, more than 1200 health workers from 68 countries shared their experiences of changes in climate and health, at a unique event designed to shed light on the realities of climate impacts on the health of the communities they serve.

    Before, during and after COP28, we are sharing health workers’ observations and insights.

    Follow The Geneva Learning Foundation to learn how climate change is affecting health in multiple ways:

    • How extreme weather events can lead to tragic loss of life.
    • How changing weather patterns are leading to crop failures and malnutrition, and forcing people to abandon their homes.
    • How infectious diseases are surging as mosquitoes proliferate and water sources are contaminated.
    • How climate stresses are particularly problematic for those with existing health conditions, like cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
    • How climate impacts are having a devastating effect on mental health as people’s ways of life are destroyed.
    • How climate change is changing the very fabric of society, driving displacement and social hardship that undermines health and wellbeing.
    • How a volatile climate is disrupting the delivery of essential health services and people’s ability to access them.
    • We will finish the series with  inspiring stories of how health workers are already responding to such challenges, working with communities to counter the effects of a changing climate.

    On 1 December 2023, TGLF will be publishing a compendium and analysis of these 1200 contributions – On the frontline of climate change and health: A health worker eyewitness report. Get the report…

    This landmark report – a global first – kickstarts our campaign to ensure that health workers in the Global South are recognized as:

    • The people already having to manage the impacts of climate change on health.
    • An essential voice to listen to in order to understand climate impacts on health.
    • A potentially critical group to work with to protect the health of communities in the face of a changing climate.

    Before, during, and after COP28, we are advocating for the recognition and support of health workers as trusted advisers to communities bearing the brunt of climate change effects on health.

    Watch the Special Event: From community to planet: Health professionals on the frontlines of climate change

  • Learning from Frontline Health Workers in the Climate Change Era

    Learning from Frontline Health Workers in the Climate Change Era

    By Julie Jacobson, Alan Brooks, Charlotte Mbuh, and Reda Sadki

    The escalating threats of climate change cast long shadows over global health, including increases in disease epidemics, profound impacts on mental health, disruptions to health infrastructure, and alterations in the severity and geographical distribution of diseases.

    Mitigating the impact of such shadows on communities will test the resilience of health infrastructure in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and especially challenge frontline health workers. The need for effective and cost-efficient public health interventions, such as immunization, will evolve and grow.

    Health workers, approximately 70% of which are women, that provide immunization and other health services will be trusted local resources to the communities they serve, further amplifying their centrality in resilient health systems.

    Listening to and building upon the experiences and insights of frontline health workers as they live with and increasingly work to address the manifestations of climate change on health is pivotal to the collective, global response today and in the years to come.

    We imagine a future of health workers connected to each other, learning directly from the successes and challenges of others by choosing to engage in digital, peer-supported, peer-learning networks regardless of the remoteness or location of their communities. Success will lie in a nimbleness and ability to quickly see new emerging patterns and respond to evolving needs of individuals and communities.

    Such a future shines a light on the importance of new ways of thinking about global health, leadership, who should have a “voice”, starting from a position of equity not hierarchy, and the value that peers ascribe to each other. The hyperlocal impact of climate change on health cannot be mitigated only through global pronouncements and national policies. It requires local knowledge and understanding.

    Recognizing this unique position of health workers, Bridges to Development and The Geneva Learning Foundation, two Swiss non-profits, are supporting this first-ever, large peer-learning event for frontline health workers to share their experiences and insights on climate change and health.

    More than 1,100 health workers have already shared their observations of changes in climate and health affecting the communities they serve in over 60 countries. They will be sharing their stories and insights at the Special Event: From community to planet: Health professionals on the frontlines of climate change, but you can already read short summaries from Guatemala; India and Mongolia; Bénin, Gambia, and Kenya.

    Starting from a Call to Action shared through the Movement for Immunization Agenda (IA2030), the call has “gone viral” through local communities and districts: over 4,500 people – most of them government workers involved in primary health care services in LMICs – registered to participate and contribute.

    Almost every health worker responding says that they are very worried about climate change, and that, for them, it is already a grave threat to the health of the communities they serve.

    Taken together, their observations, while imperfect, paint a daunting picture. This picture, consistent with global statistics and other data, helps to bring to life global pronouncements of the dire implications of climate change for health in LMICs.

    Amid this immense and dire challenge lies an opportunity to shift from a rigid, academically-dominated approach to a decentralized, democratized recognition and learning about the health impacts of climate change. This shift underscores the importance of amplifying insights from those who are bearing the brunt of the consequences of climate change, and recognizing the special role of health service workers as bridges between their communities and those working elsewhere to address similar challenges.

    This perspective requires those of us working at the global level to critically evaluate and challenge our biases and assumptions. The notion that only climate or health specialists can offer meaningful insights or credible solutions should be questioned. The understanding of climate change’s impact on epidemiology of disease, mental health and other manifestations – and the strategies employed to mitigate them – can be substantially enriched and sharpened by welcoming the voices of those on the frontlines. By doing so, we can foster a more comprehensive, inclusive, equitable and effective response to the challenges posed by climate change.

    The thousands of members of the Movement for the Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030) and others who have initiated this global dialogue around climate and health may be forging a new path, showing the feasibility and value of the global health community listening to and supporting the potential of frontline health workers to shine the brightest of lights into the shadow cast worldwide by climate change.

    This editorial is a contribution to the Special Event: From community to planet: Health professionals on the frontlines of climate change.

    About the authors

    Julie Jacobson and Alan Brooks are co-founders and managing partners of Bridges to Development. Jacobson was the president of the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) in 2020-2021. Bridges to Development, a nonprofit founded in 2018 based in Europe and the US, strives to build on the world’s significant progress to date towards a stronger and more resilient future.

    Reda Sadki and Charlotte Mbuh lead the Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF). The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) is a non-profit implementing its vision to catalyze transformation through large scale peer and mentoring networks led by frontline actors facing critical threats to our societies. Learn more: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7316466.

    Illustration: The Geneva Learning Foundation Collection © 2023. All rights reserved.

  • What does immunization have to do with climate change?

    What does immunization have to do with climate change?

    With climate-driven shifts in disease patterns and emerging health threats, the need for a robust immunization infrastructure is more obvious than ever. As the demand for both existing and novel vaccines rises in response to an expanding disease burden and new health threats, immunization staff will inevitably play a key role.

    Immunization staff, trusted health advisors to communities, already stand as sometimes-overburdened but always critical actors in resilient health systems.

    These professionals, entrusted with administering vaccines, contribute to preventing disease outbreaks and maintaining population health. Furthermore, their direct engagement with local communities, their intimate understanding of community health concerns, and their role as trusted advisors position them to recognize and respond to emerging health needs.

    The role of immunization and other primary health care (PHC) staff as health educators becomes increasingly pertinent in a changing climate. By leveraging their experience in working with communities to understand and accept health interventions, immunization staff can help those they serve to make sense of the complex relationships between climate and health – and develop appropriate responses.

    Through digital networks, we see health professionals connected to each other, learning from each other’s successes, lessons learned, and challenges. We imagine that these networks, if properly nurtured and sustained, will become increasingly important as health workers face the interconnected consequences of climate change on health within the local communities where they work for health. This also require new ways of thinking and new leadership, in addition to a new kind of digital health infrastructure to support turning learning into action.

    As we step into a world facing escalating health threats from a changing climate, the crucial role of immunization staff in protecting communities will become more pronounced.

    Existing approaches – even the ones that so impressively moved the needle of vaccination coverage and health in the past – may now need to be reconsidered and adapted to face new challenges and new threats that we know are coming.

    By supporting the will and commitment of immunization staff who are concerned about the consequences of climate on health, and then expanding to include other health professionals, we may find that immunization can serve as a pathfinder to strengthen health systems and promote health equity. We may even find practical, meaningful ways for frontline health professionals and communities to forge together a new leadership for global health.

    Learn more about the Geneva Learning Foundation’s special event: From community to planet: Health professionals on the frontlines of climate change.