The Federal Government has launched the first climate health vulnerability and adaptation assessment report 2024 to address climate change’s health impact in Nigeria.
The report was launched at the maiden edition of the Nigeria Health Sector-Wide Joint Annual Review (JAR) which began on Wednesday.
JAR is a crucial platform for advancing the principles of the Sector-Wide Approach (SWAp), bringing together stakeholders to reflect on progress made, evaluate challenges and identify areas for further improvement.
At the launch, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammed Ali Pate, raised concerns as he described climate change as a wicked problem because of its complexity.
He said, “it is multifaceted, interconnects with several other elements and in trying to solve one problem, another problem features.
“If you look at Nigeria’s population dynamics and you look at the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) and the burden of disease, you also see the areas that have the excessive climate vulnerability in our country.
“So these two issues are in some ways interconnected, whether it’s in rising temperature, impact on air quality and respiratory infections.”
He said that these impacts could be felt in cases of flooding and diarrheal diseases, water contamination, cholera outbreaks due to rising water table, or in the protracted cycle of transmission of malaria, dengue fever and yellow fever.
Pate also added that malnutrition because food systems have become fragile either from declining productivity in the food systems or flooding that destroys farmlands.
He said, “So this is a very complex issue but we cannot just wait and hope that it will disappear, therefore, this work that we are launching is an effort to have a concrete plan that we can execute to adapt to this reality that we are facing as a people.”
While assuring government’s commitment towards ensuring resilient health systems based on resilient communities, the minister said that everyone must play a part.
He called on community leaders all over Nigeria to sensitise the population to understand the implication of the assessment so that they are aware of the changes in the climate.
“While government will do its part and we’re trying to expand primary health care system, provide vaccination, reproductive health for women and have the value chain strengthened.
“We will also organise ourselves in terms of governance, have better surveillance systems to deal with infectious diseases, but communities and households also have to be ready to do their own part,” he said.
Dr Walter Molumbo, the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Country Representative to Nigeria, said that Nigeria’s commitment to a climate-resilient health sector has been evident since COP26 in 2021, where the country pledged to build a sustainable, low-emission health system.
He emphasised that the report was a “crucial milestone” in safeguarding the health of Nigerians against climate change.
He added that it aligns with the commitments made under the Paris Agreement.
Mulombo, however, said that as Nigeria prepares for the future, investing in climate resilient health system was a crucial priority and that WHO was proud and remains committed along with the dedicated partners in Nigeria in its pursuit for a healthier and more climate resistant future.
Dr Dogara Kara, the advisor to the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, while talking about the report’s findings, said that the objectives of the report was to provide a baseline and future projections of the vulnerability and capacity of the country to adapt climate changes.
He added that the document would serve as evidence base for decision making and advocacy as well as resource organisation for the country.
Kara said that the report which has about 150 recommendations notes that the risks and impacts of climate change on the health sector are projected to worsen in terms of severity, duration and magnitude across all geographic areas in Nigeria.
Also, that Nigeria will experience an additional 21 per cent burden of disease due to climate change, while temperatures will continue to rise across the country between 2020 and 2050.
Kara added that as a result of climate change, Nigeria will be exposed to increased rainfall across all regions and under most severe scenarios, sea levels are predicted to rise.
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