Nov 03, 2021
A new report highlights the connection between global pandemics and climate change – and details opportunities for improving health outcomes, contributing to low-carbon and climate-resilient development around the world.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it a sharp focus on public health services and health systems. It has highlighted the need to prepare for future global crises, including those that result from the impacts of climate change. It has also shown the vast potential which could be achieved when a global scale crisis sparks coordinated global action.
A new report from the Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice of the World Bank, supported by the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), reveals the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. These lessons range from those specific to pandemic management and healthcare to more ambitious global goals. For example, using nature-based solutions to reduce the likelihood of zoonotic diseases and the opportunity to incorporate climate-smart health care in COVID-19 responses, ensuring that the unprecedented global health investment and effort does not inadvertently worsen the climate crisis, but instead actively contributes to the climate goals set out in the Paris Agreement. The report, COVID-19 and Climate-Smart Health Care: Health Sector Opportunities for Synergistic Response to the COVID-19 and Climate Crises is aimed at fast-tracking the conversation and accelerating the progress toward climate-smart universal health care (UHC).
COVID-19 and climate change challenges share a number of overarching drivers and affect similarly vulnerable populations – especially in the area of healthcare. Each require frequently overlapping health sector responses, either in dealing with current threats or ensuring that opportunities to build back better are not missed. As the report shows, weather-related disasters over the past year have complicated the response to COVID-19, while measures like social distancing have in turn complicated disaster response.
“COVID-19 is an ongoing global crisis presenting significant global health challenges. However, as this report highlights, the pandemic also reveals opportunities to build resilience against future threats, including those brought about by climate change, and to create climate-smart health systems for the future.” said Juan Pablo Uribe, Global Director for Health, Nutrition and Population, World Bank.
As the report reveals, countries around the world are acknowledging the need to treat pandemic response and climate change as two closely interlinked priorities. As an example, in Ghana, the Government is working with the World Bank on preparatory activities for vaccine rollout in a project with a climate component aimed at improving the vaccines cold chain, by re-equipping primary health care facilities to be energy-efficient, enhancing existing cold chain facilities, procuring fuel-efficient or electric vehicles, and training health care delivery workers to support the deployment of low-carbon technologies through the cold chain. The project has enabled the Government of Ghana to respond to COVID-19 while honoring its commitments to the Paris Climate Agreement and enhancing the resilience of the health system.
The report demonstrates the impact that medical supply chains have on climate change. The treatment of millions of people with COVID 19 systems, the production of PPE and protective measures like masks and hand sanitizer and the global rollout of the various COVID-19 vaccines have all generated emissions of greenhouse gases. The medical sector is responsible for some 4 percent of global emissions; the report shows that there are many opportunities to reduce this impact.
In Bihar, India, a climate-resilient and solar powered COVID-19 care facility has been built by the NGOs, the SELCO Foundation, and Doctors for You, with the support of the World Bank, using sustainable materials and powered entirely by renewable energy. The facility has eco-friendly walling and flooring which provide better insulation compared to conventional panels, leading to less need for air conditioning during the summer. Other incremental building solutions were added to improve the quality of the space with respect to natural lighting, ventilation, and thermal comfort. In a region where energy supply is precarious, the project’s solarization work has delivered 24/7 power to the hospital, resulting in better staff retention and more trust from the public; women patients are more willing to stay at the hospital for care as they feel safe in the place. The hospital’s holistic approach provides a potentially scalable example of how COVID-19 response, climate resilience, cost savings, and achieving greater access to care can be embodied by a single health facility. “Solarization of the health center helps reduce and balance the costs for a COVID-19 care hospital,” said Ravikant Singh of Doctors for You.
The Report is intended for leaders and operational teams in multilateral development banks and other development finance institutions, to guide the ongoing design of health investments in the COVID-19 response and recovery efforts, and to help prepare for the next pandemic and potential future social or environmental crises. It will also be useful for other development agencies, non-governmental organizations, ministries of health, and health agencies, as well as policy makers who are committed to building enduring, resilient, and sustainable health systems.
The report is a practical tool that comes with a set of recommendations for climate-smart health care actions for COVID-19 response and recovery. These include climate change adaptation and mitigation actions to provide resilient and low-carbon healthcare delivery. The recommendations cover nine specific action areas:
1. Public health surveillance and risk assessment
2. Emergency preparedness, response, and recovery
3. Capacity for testing, isolation, and treatment
4. Supply of essential medical commodities
5. Health services for non-COVID health impacts
6. Non-pharmaceutical interventions
7. Public health risk communication
8. Vaccine readiness, procurement, and deployment
9. Building back better
Adaptation and resilience actions for building back better, for example, include investing in essential services such as clean water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in health care facilities, and investing in climate-resilient health care infrastructure to build multifaceted resilience. Mitigation actions include decarbonizing health care systems, and investing in low-carbon, healthy, and equitable transport systems that ensure human mobility during crisis situations where fuel supplies are disrupted.
“This report serves as a roadmap for our response to all health and climate crises,” says CIF head Mafalda Duarte. “Addressing the issues highlighted in this valuable document will not only improve health outcomes, but also enhance the resilience of communities to the future challenges.”
Learn more about the report here.
