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Human health and climate change in Pacific Island countries

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Climate change heightens Pacific island countries’ vulnerability, according to a new report by WHO

Ensuring a health-in-all-policies approach, health considerations should be incorporated into national policies and plans relevant to climate change

MANILA, 26 APRIL 2016 - The World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific issued a new report Human health and climate change in Pacific island countries, that scientifically analyzes the impact of climate change on the health and adaptation strategies and evidence-based policy options for Pacific island countries.

Thirteen Pacific island countries are included in this report. Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu participated in the formal Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Planning project led by WHO between 2010 and 2013 on environmental health in Pacific island countries.

Three different methods were used to assess health vulnerabilities at the country level. In countries such as the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau, statistical analysis were applied while consultative and interview-based approach was used in Cook Islands, Kiribati, Niue, Samoa, Tonga and Tuvalu. The modified health impact assessment approach was used for Nauru, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

“Pacific island countries and areas face the triple burden of communicable diseases, noncommunicable diseases and the health impacts of climate change – that causes high deaths and disease prevalence,” said Dr Shin Young-soo, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific. “Climate change is a major challenge of our time and could prove to be the most significant human health threat of the 21st century. Coordinated efforts of many different sectors are urgently needed to build resilience to climate change in the Pacific.”

The majority of the climate change and health priorities identified in Pacific island countries largely reflect the long-held concerns of experts on climate change and health: issues such as increasing incidence of foodborne, waterborne and vector-borne diseases and more serious health impacts of heat and natural disasters as highlighted in some of the earliest work on climate change conducted by WHO in the late 1980s.

“With respect to the climate-sensitive health risks, it is important to note that many of these health risks are interrelated. Therefore they must be considered together,” said Dr Lachlan Mclver, the coordinating lead author of this report.

Since 2010, the WHO Division of Pacific Technical Support (DPS) has been collaborating with the Pacific island countries to develop climate change and health adaption plans that address the health impacts of climate change in the Pacific context.

“Despite the challenges, there are unique opportunities for improving health sector resilience in the Pacific. As far as adaptation is concerned, most Pacific island countries and areas have a comparative advantage despite their high vulnerability to the impacts of climate change,” said Dr Liu Yunguo, Director of DPS and WHO Representative for the South Pacific. “Nearly all Pacific island countries and areas have completed National Climate Change and Health Action Plans (NCCHAPs) or equivalent plans. Furthermore, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) may offer Pacific island countries and areas a chance to strengthen both climate change adaptation and development processes in a sustainable and coordinated manner.”

From a sub-regional perspective, common priorities identified in the national action plans of Pacific island countries and areas include:

  • Perform the vulnerability assessment and adaptation planning processes periodically and updating the NCCHAPs, to reflect improved knowledge and information regarding climate-sensitive health risks and appropriate management strategies;

  • Align climate change and health with activities and ongoing improvements in disaster risk management, food security and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH);

  • Mainstream consideration of climate change and health into existing public health systems, while ensuring that such mainstreaming does not lead to dilution, diversion or diminution of the urgency of the targeted activities;

  • Improve understanding of the relationship and diverse causal pathways between climate variability and climate-sensitive diseases (CSDs);

  • Explore the previously neglected areas of climate change and health research in the Pacific, including climate change impacts on heat-related illnesses, mental health and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), as well as on communicable diseases; and

  • Develop climate-based early warning systems.

"The immediate priorities for Pacific island countries and areas with respect to health adaptation to climate change must take into account a range of factors,” said Dr Rokho Kim, Environmental Health Specialist, DPS. “Adaptation at the national level requires cross-sectoral collaboration. In relation to health, adaptation also implies taking into account the effects on health of mitigation/adaptation activities in other sectors. Another way of putting this is to seek a health-in-all policies approach."

The effects of climate change on health are already tangible in the Pacific, and have emerged as a huge challenge for the population and health systems of Pacific island countries and areas. A new advocacy and public health movement is needed urgently to bring together governments, international agencies, nongovernmental organizations, communities and academics to address the effects of climate change on health.

The evidence and recommendations contained in this report will provide a clearer path towards effective adaptation and mitigation to avoid the most serious impacts of climate change on the health of island communities across the Pacific.

For further information, please contact:

Dr Rokho Kim
Environmental Health Specialist
Division of Pacific Technical Support
WHO Office in the South Pacific
Telephone: +679 330 4600
Email: kimr@wpro.who.int