Transcript Talk 4 - Climate services as a resource for protecting human health

Climate Services as a
Resource for Protecting
Human Health
Dr. Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum,
Public Health and Environment Department
World Health Organization,
Geneva
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Climate services as a resource for health
Long-recognized need for climate/health collaboration
WHO and WMO have
had a formal
agreement since 1952
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Climate services as a resource for health
“Whoever wishes to investigate
medicine properly, should
proceed thus: in the first place to
consider the seasons of the year,
and what effects each of them
produces for they are not at all
alike, but differ much from
themselves in regard to their
changes. Then the winds, the hot
and the cold, especially such as
are common to all countries, and
then such as are peculiar to each
locality”
On Airs, Waters and Places.
Hippocrates (Circa 400 B.C)
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Climate services as a resource for health
Weather and climate affects health both directly and
indirectly
Modulating
influences
Health effects
Human exposures
CLIMATE
CHANGE
Regional weather
changes
•Heat waves
•Extreme weather
•Temperature
•Precipitation
•Contamination
pathways
•Transmission
dynamics
•Agroecosystems,
hydrology
•Socioeconomics,
demographics
•Temperature-related illness and death
•Extreme weather- related health effects
•Air pollution-related health effects
•Water and food-borne diseases
•Vector-borne and rodent- borne diseases
•Effects of food and water shortages
•Effects of population displacement
Based on Patz et al, 2000
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Climate services as a resource for health
Direct Health Effects:
Health Hazards of extreme weather events
Deaths During Summer Heatwave.
Paris Funeral Services (2003)
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Climate services as a resource for health
Impacts of Hurricane Katrina
Climate change is likely to worsen existing problems
Hay et al, 2006, best estimate, that by 2015, climate change from the 1961-1990 average
would increase the population at risk of malaria in Africa by about 17% (+ 107 million) - on
top of effects of demographic change and urbanization.
Hay SI, et al. Population at malaria risk in Africa: 2005, 2015 and 2030. Foresight Report for UK Office of Science and Innovation, 2006.
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Climate services as a resource for health
The inconvenient truth for health
- Each year:
- Undernutrition kills 3.5 million
- Diarrhoea kills 2.2 million
- Malaria kills 900,000
- - Hydromet. events kill 10s of thousands
These, and others, are highly sensitive to
temperature and precipitation.
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Climate services as a resource for health
The inconvenient truth for the poor
Cumulative emissions of
greenhouse gases, to 2002
WHO estimates of per
capita mortality from
climate change, 2000
Map projections from Patz at al 2007; WHO 2008
WHO Comparative Risk Assessment estimated that by 2000,
climate change that had occurred since the 1970s was causing
Climate services
a resource
for health
8 | additional
over 150,000
deathsas
per
year (WHO,
2002, McMichael et
al 2004)
World Health Assembly
Resolution 61.19
Climate change adds
a new urgency to
protect health
193 Nations agree on
actions to protect health
from climate change
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Climate services as a resource for health
Main objectives for international public health
1) Raising awareness: of the health implications of climate change
2) Strengthening partnerships: to (re-) place health at the centre of
climate change policy and improve health decision-making
3) Generating evidence: on the health effects of climate, adaptation
and mitigation policies
4) Strengthening public health systems to cope with additional
threats posed by climate, including disaster preparedness and early
warning systems
Adequate and timely climate information is
important to inform these objectives
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Climate services as a resource for health
Some basic principles
Choose "no regrets" interventions.
Climate is just one of many determinants of health, and projections
of future climate are uncertain – so need to choose interventions
that should be effective in any plausible future climate
Invest in health-enhancing sustainable development:
Many "good deals now" (e.g. water and sanitation) will protect
health immediately - and reduce vulnerability to CV and CC
Invest in climate risk management:
Improved ability to deal with climate variability is a critical
component of improved response to climate change
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Climate services as a resource for health
Public health decision-making can be enhanced
by climate & environmental information
Health Policy
Short and Long-term
Planning
Resources allocation
Prioritization of
geographic regions
and health risks
Surveillance &
Monitoring
Health
Interventions &
Implementation
What diseases and
determinants to
monitor
Prioritization of
vulnerable or at risk
areas
When to monitor
Early warning &
preparedness
What specific areas
to monitor
Logistics, ensuring
resources arrive
before heavy rain or
disasters
Climate-proofing
interventions or the
implementations
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Climate services as a resource for health
Programme
Evaluation
What changes in
disease incidence
are due to
interventions or
due to seasonal
favourability
Multiple public health actors could benefit from enhanced
climate services
 Regional and Central Ministries of Health
 National development planners including disaster risk reduction
 Civil society (including NGO and humanitarian actors)
 Community Health workers
 Public-Private Partnerships – e.g. supply chain logistics, water
infrastructure
 Research Community
 Media
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Climate services as a resource for health
The potential for a climate informed health sector
is not fully developed
"Forecasts based entirely on scientific objectives have
little impact on policy because there is no stakeholder."
Clark et al, Ecological forecasts: an Emerging
Imperative, Science, 2001
"Development of early
warning systems should
involve active participation of
the system's end users". US
National Research Council,
Under the Weather, 2001.
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Climate services as a resource for health
"……The published literature
to date, however, includes no
full descriptions of climatebased early warning systems
being used to influence
control decisions for infectious
disease. WHO, 2005."
Main constraints on improving the links
 End-users want suppliers to give them what they want, but often
don't know what that is
 Health actors lack resources, or are spending them on things other
than early warning and prevention
 Health data is often weaker than meteorological data
 Health is mainly a non-market sector – so "business case" is often
blurred
 The climate-health bridge needs support: either externally, or by
showing how a joined up decision-making system pays for itself
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Climate services as a resource for health
Progress in recent years
 Need for "demand-driven" services repeatedly identified
Beijing, Espoo, Barcelona, WCC-3, Atlanta, Antalya…
 Global Framework for Climate Services as a very positive
direction
 Joint operational guidance on heat-health warning systems
 Formation of climate and health partnerships in several
countries
 Operational health early-warning systems
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Climate services as a resource for health
Need I: Improved partnerships and networks
WHO and WMO have longstanding collaboration on
assessments and
workshops
Need to build on these to
support more operational
partnerships, particularly at
regional and lower levels
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Climate services as a resource for health
Need II: Increased Capacity
Meteorological
professionals need to
learn more about the
practical challenges of
disease control & health
protection
Health professionals need to
learn more about how
climate and environmental
information can help them
control diseases
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Climate services as a resource for health
Need III: Meteorological Services to support health
decision-making
Adding climate-based risk
mapping and early warnings
for e.g. heatwaves and
infectious disease outbreaks
…to…
Strengthen core public health
interventions to cope with
climate-sensitive disease
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Climate services as a resource for health
Possible next steps
 Review and renewal of global collaboration arrangements,
and support for partnerships at regional and national level
 Collaboration on technical products, e.g. principles and
practice of met. based warning systems for health
 Sustained support for end-to-end pilot projects, with
evaluation of health benefits and resource costs
 Using success stories as a lever for increased demand for
climate services to health
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Climate services as a resource for health
Thank you for your attention
World Health Organization
http://www.who.int/
Health and climate change:
http://www.who.int/globalchange/climate
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Climate services as a resource for health