WHO CLIMATE.pdf

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CLIMATE CHANGE AND HEALTH
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
"Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Climate change
will affect, in profoundly adverse ways, some of the most fundamental
determinants of health: food, air, water.
In the face of this challenge, WHO is committed to do everything it can to
ensure all is done to protect human health from climate change”
Margaret Chan, WHO – Director-General
(07/04/2008)
CLIMATE CHANGE, THE GLOBAL HEALTH COMMUNITY, AND WHO
The effects of climate change on health
are receiving increasing attention as a
central concern for policy makers and the public. Human beings are already exposed to
short and long term health risks of climate variability and change. Climate-sensitive
diseases and health conditions today kill millions. They include malnutrition, which
causes over 3.5 million deaths per year, diarrhoeal diseases, which kill over 1.8 million,
and malaria, which kills almost 1 million. Climate change threatens to increase these
disease burdens and erode the environmental conditions that support good health and
well-being of mankind.
The health sector
is increasingly taking responsibility for protecting and promoting
health in response to this challenge. The global health agenda is set by the annual
World Health Assembly (WHA),
comprising the 193 WHO Member States. In May
2008, the WHA passed a resolution on climate change and health, drawing attention to
the threat posed by climate change to the achievement of the Millennium Development
Goals and health equity. The resolution calls on WHO to strengthen its work in raising
awareness about the health implications of climate change, support capacity building
and research in health protection from climate change in countries, and urge action by
the health sector. This resolution is a political milestone for the full involvement of the
health community in the climate change agenda and drew overwhelming support from
the Assembly.
Commitments by WHO
In compliance with this mandate from the health community, WHO is committed to
strengthening (1) its scientific, normative and policy development functions, (2) its
operational programmes (e.g. combating infectious disease, improving water and
sanitation services and hygiene practices, and providing health support in
emergencies), and (3) its support to Ministries of Health and other health actors
throughout the world.
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WHO support on public health and climate
Outreach and
advocacy
Strengthening of health
systems
Improved health
through:
Health
Development
Enhanced political profile
Protection from climate
variability and change
Direct benefits of healthier
energy/development
Research/knowledge
Monitoring/Delivery
Partnerships
WHO pledges to carry out the following specific actions, to be reported both to the
124
th
session of the WHO Executive Board in January 2009, and to the climate change
community through upcoming Conferences of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC.
Strengthening of health systems
WHO emphasizes the need to strengthen
health systems to enable countries to deal with both gradual changes and sudden
shocks. Further investment to strengthen key functions, and forward planning to
address the new challenges posed by climate change, are urgently needed. This
approach will require strengthening specific public health interventions within the
formal health sector, such as control of neglected tropical diseases and actions to
improve the environmental and social determinants of health, from provision of clean
water and sanitation, to enhancing the welfare of women. A particular role
encompasses decisively ensuring the effective provision of primary health care. Overall,
a common theme must be ensuring health equity and giving priority to protecting the
health security of particularly vulnerable groups.
Outreach and advocacy
WHO will work towards greater awareness of the
health implications of climate change amongst policy-makers and the general public.
This will include providing fora for dedicated awareness-raising activities, such as the
2008 World Health Day (WHD) campaign on "Health Protection from Climate Change"
WHO will continue to draw the attention of the public and policy-makers to the serious
health risks presented by climate change, to global health and to the achievement of
the health-related Millennium Development Goals through reports, presentations, and
participation in international climate change meetings and processes. Improved
awareness will help health-sector professionals to show leadership in supporting rapid
and comprehensive strategies for mitigation (reduction of climate change), and
adaptation (coping better with climate change), that will both improve health now and
reduce vulnerability in the future. Improved awareness will be paramount towards
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empowering local communities to become climate resilient by better protecting their
health from climate sensitive diseases and from extreme weather events.
Monitoring, surveillance and forecasting
These systems require further
improvements and stronger basic health services, will improve health now, and reduce
vulnerability to climate change in the future. WHO is defining a set of indicators for the
monitoring of vulnerability to climate change and encourages Member States to
strengthen the capacity of their health systems for monitoring and minimizing the
public health impacts of climate change through adequate preventive measures,
preparedness, timely response and effective management of natural disasters.
Health development
With the support of donor countries, WHO is developing tools
and methods to facilitate better estimate of the scale and nature of health problems
associated with climate change in vulnerable regions and to identify strategies and
best practice for implementing and strengthening effective preventive and adaptive
interventions. By end 2008, WHO will consult with Member States on scaling up WHO’s
technical support for assessing and addressing the implications of climate change for
health and health systems.
Research and knowledge
WHO will continue to support national and regional
assessments, burden of disease studies, identification of adaptation strategies for the
health sector, dissemination of current scientific findings, guidelines and training
materials, research and reviews on early warning systems. WHO will also promote
interdisciplinary research, through the network of WHO Collaborating Centres in
leading academic institutions. By end 2008, WHO will lead the definition of a global
research agenda on climate change and health, by convening a consultation process
and international meeting that brings together end users from the health community,
researchers, research funders, and other UN agencies.
Partnerships
WHO will strengthen its close cooperation with countries and agencies
inside and outside of the UN system, and in particular with governments and
representatives of civil society to develop capacity to assess and response to health
risks from climate change. The WHO regional and country offices provide close
relationships to the health sector within Member States, who are the primary defence
against health impacts from climate change and variability. WHO has long-standing
collaborations with health research organizations, and with the United Nations (e.g.
FAO, WMO, UNDP, UNEP) and other international and national agencies, that are
involved in mitigating and adapting to climate change. Specifically, WHO is committed
to engage actively in the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
Nairobi Work Programme (NWP) on Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation to climate
change, in order to ensure its relevance to the health sector, and to keep Member
States informed about the work programme in order to facilitate their participation in it
as appropriate and access to the benefits of its outputs.
Beyond adaptation measures
WHO and the health community is helping to define
the health implications of many of the actions in other sectors needed to mitigate
greenhouse gas emissions and stabilize climate change. For example, shifting from
inefficient and polluting burning of charcoal and biomass to cleaner burning fuels or
renewables not only reduces deforestation and carbon dioxide emissions, but can also
reduce the 1.5 million annual deaths from indoor air pollution. Reducing reliance on
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cars and improving access to safe public transport, walking and cycling could improve
outdoor air quality (reducing the 800,000 annual deaths from air pollution), increase
physical activity (reducing obesity, heart disease and cancer), and reduce the 1.2
million annual traffic-related injuries and deaths. Where they have been quantified and
compared, the health "co-benefits" of such decisions are usually found to be larger
than the environmental implications themselves. They are therefore a potentially
important argument in favour of clean development and greenhouse gas mitigation. A
clarification of the health implications of mitigation and adaptation decisions in these
sectors and the development of tools for their evaluation at national and local level will
support achievement of these health "co-benefits", and avoidance of health risks. This
will in turn enhance population acceptability and produce net economic benefits.
MORE INFORMATION:
Director General’s statement on World Health Day 2008
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2008/s05/en/index.html
World Health Assembly Resolution on climate change and health
http://www.who.int/globalchange/climate/EB_CChealth_resolution/en/index.html
World Health Day 2008 on protecting health from climate change
http://www.who.int/world-health-day/en/index.html
LINK TO WHO’S REGIONAL OFFICES & HEADQUARTERS
WHO Regional Office for Africa (AFRO)
http://afro.who.int/index.html
WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO)
http://www.emro.who.int/ceha/index.asp
WHO Regional Office for Europe (EURO)
http://www.euro.who.int/globalchange
WHO Headquarters
http://www.who.int/globalchange/en/
WHO Regional Office for the Americas/Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)
http://www.paho.org/
WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia (SEARO)
http://www.searo.who.int/
WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific (WPRO)
http://www.wpro.who.int/sites/climate/home.htm
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