OVERVIEW

Climate change has become one of the most critical challenges of the 21st century. According to modelling scenarios from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), climate change is set to worsen as the world fails to reach the Paris agreed upon global warming target of not more than 1.5 degrees celsius above 19th century baselines. Recent reports (https://library.wmo.int/idurl/4/69018) predict an overshoot of up to 3 degrees celsius above baseline under current policies that do not favour the acceleration of mitigation efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with countries scrambling to safeguard the lives and livelihoods of their populations. Global warming has resulted in rising temperatures worldwide, with extreme weather events such as heatwaves, floods and droughts becoming more frequent and more intense.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 3.6 billion people, mostly from low-middle income countries (LMICs) are affected by climate change. Africa, despite contributing only 7% of the total greenhouse gas emissions globally, is disproportionately affected by climate change and has the least adaptive capacity to adequately respond to the crisis. Southern Africa has become a climate change hotspot with temperatures rising at twice the global rate. There is an urgent need to develop localized climate resilient strategies that focus primarily on adaption approaches to prevent and minimise human morbidity and mortality.

Climate change has been shown to impact on health through direct and indirect pathways. Direct pathways include heat exposure and air pollution, with poor health outcomes especially in vulnerable populations that include the extremes of age, people with chronic conditions, outdoor workers and pregnant women. Indirect pathways include a rise in climate sensitive diseases such as Malaria and Dengue; waterborne diseases such as Cholera and Giardia that are caused by disrupted and contaminated water services during floods; malnutrition and food insecurity as a result of crop failure; and injury and fatalities due to infrastructural damage. Mental health conditions are on the rise as people struggle with climate related displacements and migration, loss of livelihoods and competition for scarce resources, fueling violence and conflict.

There is a need for research and innovation particularly on the feasibility and effectiveness of adaptation interventions to inform climate and health policy andtheand the development of national health adaptation plans and guidelines. There is also a need to improve climate literacy through capacity building at national, provincial and district levels for well informed and coordinated multisectoral responses. Co-creation with communities, leveraging indigenous knowledge systems, needs to be central in designing and implementing interventions. Investments in low carbon, climate resilient health systems to preserve access to healthcare and to cope with the increasing health burden are needed, with access to climate finance a critical enabler.

FPD is committed to tackling these challenges by driving initiatives that minimize health impacts and build climate health resilience, leveraging existing WHO climate and health systems frameworks. Capacity building to improve climate literacy is at the core of these initiatives and is in alignment with FPD’s mission of developing people, strengthening health systems and driving innovation. FPD also aims to empower communities with knowledge and resources to adapt to a changing climate. We aim to promote sustainable healthcare practices that address the interconnected challenges of climate change and health.