Adaptation to climate change in Africa: Plan of action for the health sector 2012-2016

Overview

In 2011, ministers of health and ministers of environment Africa agreed to implement the framework for Public Health Adaptation to Climate Change, following resolution AFR/RC61/R2 of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa, and Decision SS4/1 of the African Ministerial Conference on Environment. The Plan of Action is a response to the call of ministers to WHO, UNEP, the African Development Banks, the African Union Commission and other development partners to provide technical assistance to countries for implementation, and to facilitate access by African countries to existing climate funds.

The main objective of the Plan of Action is to minimize the adverse public health effects of climate change in Africa. The specific objectives are to identify country-specific health risks associated with climate change in all African countries; strengthen core national capacities that enable health systems to prepare for and effectively respond to climate change threats to human health; facilitate the implementation of essential public health and environment interventions for the management of both acute and long-term health risks resulting from climate change; facilitate operational and applied research on local health adaptation needs and solutions; and disseminate lessons learnt and country experiences in order to facilitate implementation of adaptation strategies in other sectors.

The plan of action is based on Decision CP16 of the UNFCCC COP 16. Countries will implement a set of public health and environment interventions to strengthen their resilience by developing and implementing national action plans for public health adaptation to climate change.

These plans will be based on an essential public health package of interventions that would include baseline risk and capacity assessments, capacity building, integrated environment and health surveillance, awareness raising and social mobilization, public health-oriented environmental management, scaling-up of existing public health interventions, strengthening of partnerships and, promotion of research. At the international level, specialized agencies and technical institutions will coordinate their actions to provide guidance, tools and technical support to countries for implementation of the above interventions