Keynote 4 Health Adaptation

1. Health adaptation to climate change

2. Health systems
Population health Health care

3. Slide courtesy of Dr. George Luber, CDC

4. Exposure and resilience vary across populations and
communities

5. Typhoon Maysak in Chuuk and Yap States

6. Building climate resilient health systems

7. Health workforce with knowledge and tools to promote
climate resilience

8. Health information systems that effectively manage the
health risks of climate change

10. Morin et al. 2018

11. Effective delivery of health services
• Disaster risk management and preparedness
• Modify current & implement new climate-informed health
policies and programs
• Management of environmental determinants of health
• Climate-resilient and sustainable technologies and
infrastructure

12. Modifying current programs to manage climate-related
hazards based on historic experience may lead to
inadequate preparation of health systems
More comprehensive, systems-oriented, and
transformative approaches are required

13. 4th National Climate
Assessment:
Adaptation reduces risks
and improves health
Proactive adaptation policies and
programs reduce the risks and impacts
from climate-sensitive health outcomes
and from disruptions in healthcare
services. Additional benefits to health
arise from explicitly accounting for
climate change risks in infrastructure
planning and urban design.

14. Building back better after hurricane Irma,
British Virgin Islands
PAHO / UK Aid 2017

15. Scenarios for climate and health stress test
• Develop several hypothetical situations (e.g. scenarios) that
are outside the range of experience of the local and
provincial health system
– A heatwave of greater intensity and longer duration
– A flooding event beyond historic experience
– An outbreak of an infectious disease not historically present in the region
• The scenarios should incorporate relevant information on the
status and location of critical infrastructure
• The scenarios can range from relatively simple to interacting
and cascading events and/or events that affect supply chains

17. Budget allocated to health
projects in 2018:
$23,861,124
2%
Currency (USD)
Total adaptation resources
allocated:
$1,040,700,000
Source: Climate-related Development Finance (OECD,
2016)
Financing health adaptation projects: Pacific

18. Support required to ensure adaptation success (% responses)
WHO 2015

21. High priority health adaptation measures
• Ensuring health & safety considerations incorporated into
adaptation across sectors
• Improving safety & security of food & water sources
• Improving sanitation & hygiene facilities
• Increasing resources for emergency risk management
• Developing early warning systems
• Climate-proofing health & safety infrastructure
• Enhancing surveillance
• Conducting environmental epidemiological research
• Developing new and improving current communication
WHO 2015