Earth Today | Scientist urges attention for climate change and health
… Says vigilance, responsiveness vital to resilience in the sector
Published:Thursday | June 29, 2023 | 12:32 AM
AS TEMPERATURES climb, extreme weather events hit and sea levels rise, Jamaica and the Caribbean have been reminded of the public health imperative to address climate change and to do so with urgency.
“Science tells us we must think about climate change as a challenge for Jamaica, including the health sector. Science tells us we are hanging in the balance now. Whether the challenge overwhelms or the chance of achieving SDG3 is realised is dependent on the choices we make today,” warned Prof Michael Taylor, climate scientist and dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona.
He was addressing the Virtual Symposium of the Medical Association of Jamaica, held between June 8 and 11 under the theme ‘Protecting our world, securing our health’.
SDG3, Sustainable Development Goal 3, is to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages; and is one of the 17 SDGs established by the United Nations in 2015. To get there, Taylor said it is necessary to see the health and other threats presented by climate change and to respond.
They include injuries, fatalities and mental health impacts associated with severe weather and extreme heat. These are in addition to anticipated increases in vector-borne diseases such as dengue and malaria;and respiratory allergies and asthma associated with increasing allergens, as well as food and water supply impacts such as malnutrition and diarrhoeal disease.
The challenge for the health response, Taylor explained, is “to stay ahead of unexpected and unaccounted for demand” and to deal with the “co-determinants of health not being able to deliver because of their climate sensitivity”, while safeguarding care that is accessible to all.
He suggested, therefore, that the sector “quickly come to terms with its potentially significant contribution to the Caribbean’s Mitigation Agenda”, including the use of renewables to address the energy-intensive nature of the sector; and transportation, with a look at “decentralised health care” and the adoption of e-health “with the co-benefit of the reduction of paper”.
The energy and transport sectors are two of the major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, which fuel the warming of the planet, triggering the range of climate impacts – from extreme droughts and hurricanes to variable rainfall and higher sea levels, among others.
Taylor, a physicist, also proposed the pursuit of a comprehensive, scaled-up research agenda that gives attention to models of leadership and governance in both the public and private sectors, nationally and regionally; the adoption of innovation to suit Caribbean realities and climate resilient health systems that rethink sustainable technologies and infrastructure.
In addition, he recommended attention to further strengthening “the robust public health surveillance, inspection, monitoring and reporting systems; resource research on disease models to build out early warning capacities and mapping vulnerable communities while tracking new vulnerabilities”.
ONGOING INTERVENTIONS
The good thing, Taylor noted, is that there is work under way in the sector, including the Climate Change and Health Leadership Fellowship training programme to create a cohort of inter-sectoral, multi-disciplinary leaders with the skills to turn plans and policies into action.
There is also the Health Systems Strengthening Programme that is seeing to the implementation of a digital health information system and infrastructure upgrades that support resiliency.
What is necessary, he said, is that attention be given to making the transition from project-based to planned-for or mainstreamed interventions while being proactive, comprehensive and collaborative.
“Climate change’s challenges dwarfs the limited human,financial and technical resources of any single Caribbean country. However, we have enough proof that when a collective approach [involving] government, private sector,academia, civil society, youth, etc., is taken, resilience is indeed possible,” Taylor said.