Why health must be at the middle of the COP29 Climate Agenda – Opinion

November 14, 2024
by Peter Sands, Executive Director

When I visited Dhaka in July this 12 months, town was shrouded within the thick humidity and warmth of the monsoon season. As I walked with a health care employee through the winding, makeshift neighborhoods of one in all the vast informal settlements surrounding Bangladesh’s capital, the air was heavy and warm.

I arrived within the settlement keenly aware of the social, economic and health risk aspects which have fueled the spread of tuberculosis for hundreds of years. But when every TB patient I spoke to said that they had been pushed to Dhaka by extreme weather or declining farmland, the urgent must put health at the center of climate policy became clear. If we’re to handle the complex threats of climate change and disease, health should be recognized as an integral a part of climate change adaptation and resilience efforts.

Bangladesh is some of the vulnerable countries on the planet to climate change. Much of the country lies in an unlimited river delta, making it vulnerable to flooding and rising sea levels. More and more powerful cyclones destroy houses and paralyze essential health infrastructure. Saline seepage from seawater is rendering coastal farmlands sterile, polluting essential freshwater sources and, together with droughts and changing rainfall patterns, compromising agricultural productivity.

The International Organization for Migration estimates that 70% of individuals living in informal settlements in Dhaka moved there to flee some environmental shock. With limited employment opportunities and low-wage jobs, climate migrants often should not have enough to eat and live in extremely cramped and crowded conditions. Tuberculosis develops amongst defenseless, undernourished people in tight groups. Recognizing and prioritizing such public health challenges in climate motion plans – especially at global summits corresponding to COP29, currently happening in Baku, Azerbaijan – can equip health systems to raised reduce the chance of disease outbreaks in vulnerable communities affected by climate change.

The impact of climate change on vector-borne diseases corresponding to malaria and cholera is already clear. However, it also has a less immediate knock-on effect on diseases corresponding to tuberculosis. In climate-sensitive countries world wide, mass displacement attributable to extreme weather is resulting in overpopulation and poor living conditions, increasing the chance of tuberculosis transmission.

Displacement can even interrupt TB treatment, leaving them infected for longer and prone to developing drug-resistant TB, which is far more difficult and expensive to treat. Food insecurity and poverty attributable to climate change may worsen the health of vulnerable populations affected by the disease, as malnourished persons are far more prone to tuberculosis. In 2023, malnutrition was a serious risk factor for TB infection in lots of the 30 countries with the world’s highest TB burden.

Climate change can be undermining the power of health systems to support and protect people, which in turn is hampering countries’ efforts to fight tuberculosis, HIV and malaria – three of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases. In places like Dhaka, the influx of climate migrants is straining already overstretched health systems. This is just not a singular situation – healthcare systems in lots of countries exposed to climate change are under pressure. In Malawi, heavy rains from Cyclone Freddy in 2023 worn out vital health data, medical supplies and infrastructure, exposing many individuals to public health risks and illnesses. Only by integrating health considerations into climate responses can we support communities fighting the double burden of climate and health crises, prevent disease outbreaks and have climate-resilient health systems.

COP29 is a chance to not be missed to scale up efforts and resources to handle the health impacts of climate change. Currently, lower than 1% of multilateral climate finance goes to health – a startling discrepancy that might undermine efforts to fight diseases exacerbated by climate change. By bridging this gap, we are able to support countries to defend their communities against climate-related health threats, particularly diseases corresponding to HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.

Health should be at the center of climate discussions, indicators and nationally determined contributions (national plans and commitments made by countries under the Paris Agreement – the legally binding international treaty on climate change). Prioritizing and increasing investment in climate health initiatives will protect the world’s most vulnerable populations, ensure health systems can withstand climate shocks, and unlock advantages for global security and economic stability.

Leaving Dhaka, I observed Bangladesh from the air – a wide ranging patchwork of rivers, fields and densely populated urban areas, surrounded by waters that each sustain and threaten it. Low- and middle-income countries like Bangladesh are bearing the brunt of a crisis they’ve done little to bear the brunt of essentially the most severe impacts of climate change, which pose recent challenges to their response to HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.

We must take decisive motion to handle this injustice. By mobilizing greater funding for climate-resilient health systems and making health a key pillar of the climate change response, the world can support vulnerable communities on the frontlines of climate change, power the fight against the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, and construct a healthier, safer future for everybody.

This article was originally published on Forbes.