Extreme heat and prolonged heatwaves.
Unprecedented floods and storms in every corner of the globe.
Dry spells and storms that defy precedent.
These are some of the ways climate change is having profound and sometimes devastating impacts on the health of people and communities around the world.
As world leaders met at the COP29 climate summit being in Baku, Azerbaijan (11-22 November), IFRC is once again spotlighting what it sees every day through its emergency responses to sudden floods, extreme heatwaves, prolonged drought, economic crisis and hunger.
Not only are people dying, losing homes and livelihoods, the climate crisis is having long-lasting impacts on people’s health and well-being. Extreme heatwaves, floods and storms are putting more and more people at risk of infectious diseases and malnutrition while reducing their access to care.
“The impacts of the climate crisis are having a massive effect on people’s health,” IFRC Secretary General Jagan Chapagain said during the first day of the COP29 Conference. “So we must address the health impacts in a very comprehensive way.”
Equally important is how and when those issues are addressed, he adds. Financing and investment on community health and preparedness must not only be increased, they must be directed to local communities where it is needed most.
“The investment has to be at the right level and they must reach the right place,” Chapagain said. “At the moment, there is not enough investment and that investment is not reaching the community level. Less than ten percent of climate financing reaches the community level.
“We need to be supporting community action on the ground, where people are living and facing the consequences every day.”
That investment cannot wait until after disaster strikes. “How and when do you make that investment is also important,” he added. “If you make the investment early – with early warning systems or anticaptory actions -- it saves lives, livelihoods and dollars.”
At the IFRC Pavillion at COP29, people listened to a wide range of presentations on the impacts that climate change is having on people’s health and well being all over the world. Here, the Iraqi Red Crescent shares their experiences dealing with the effects climate change is having on nutrition, access to clean water and agriculture.
Photo: IFRC
A burning issue
Case in point is the growing threat of extreme heat. In recent years, global temperature records are being broken month after month, as climate change makes heatwaves – an already silent and deadly killer – more extreme. Every year, heat kills almost half a million people worldwide.
Yet only 0.5 percent of multilateral climate adaptation finance goes to health measures that could drastically reduce that number. Such health measures could also improve people’s well-being and save money in the long run. By 2030, experts predict between USD two to four billion in additional health costs will be incurred if adaptation action is not taken now.
Solutions involve a range of actions, from building climate-resilient cities and health systems, to developing national heat-action plans and early-warning early-action protocols. Other actions would ensure that social protection and health systems are responsive to climate-related shocks, while nature-based solutions could harness the natural protective power of ecosystems to shield communities from extreme heat or storm surges.
“As climate impacts intensify, health systems must adapt to protect the most vulnerable,” said Petra Khoury, Director of IFRC’s Health and Care Department, speaking at a special COP29 event organized by the Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health (ATACH), a programme hosted by WHO.
“The IFRC network is on the frontlines, building climate-resilient health systems through community mobilization,” she said. "Solutions addressing the triple nexus of health, climate and migration should be community centered.
“Bringing both host and displaced communities in the decision-making process and solutions is key to mitigating the impact of this nexus.”
The Panamanian Red Cross delivers cleaning kits and an educational day on dengue prevention in the communities of Veracruz in mid November. Dengue is one of many vector-borne diseases that is being aggravated by climate change.
Photo: Panamanian Red Cross
Among other things, the IFRC is working to scale up community level surveillance of climate–related diseases, deepen its existing community engagement efforts and broaden the scope of its work though a 'one health' approach.
The ‘one health’ approach is a more holistic way of improving human health by looking at the health of the environment in which people are living. For example, if livestock are rendered vulnerable to illness by heat, lack of food or water, that has a knock-on effect on human health. Up to 75 per cent of emerging infectious diseases that affect human beings start in animals.
The IFRC is also heavily involved in street-by-street, house-by-house surveillance around diseases such as dengue, malaria and cholera, and many others, but climate change demands greater efforts in community engagement around disease tracking, prevention and response.
To do all this, investments must be made at all levels – from national government budgets but also from multilateral development banks, multilateral climate funds, health financing institutions, bilateral development agencies, and private-sector actors.
Meldrid Liodel, a 53-year-old single mother, stands outside her home as neighbors ride by in a canoe. People in Meldrid’s community have been living in ankle- to knee-deep water now for three months. This is having a significant impact on people's health.
Photo: Rachel Punish/IFRC
Putting this into action also means integrating health and heat action as part of a holistic approach to adaptation action in national climate plans, as well as enhancing coordination across government with local authorities, actors and communities.
There have already been signs of progress. At COP28, the UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience strengthened adaptation action while 151 countries signed the first-ever COP Climate and Health Declaration. And there is mounting awareness about the urgency of addressing the health impacts of heatwaves. IFRC continued to sound the alarm hosting the first Global Summit on Extreme Heat with our annual Heat Action Day on 2 June.
Recent severe hurricanes – sometimes referred to as ‘monster storms’ – along with a spate of severe flooding in large parts of Europe, Western and Central Africa, the Americas and Southeast Asia and Oceana are also showcasing the urgent need for this kind of local investment.
These floods are displacing millions of people, leaving them without access to safe water and sanitation. Often the communities hit hardest also already are coping with limited access to safe water, sanitation, nutrition, healthcare and education.
Whether COP29 is ultimately judged a success will depend on whether commitments are made toward reversing these realities with real investments in health, preparedness and early warning that reach the local level. “These are the three key areas – health, investment and timing – if we can make progress on these areas at COP29, I would see this as a success,” Chapagain concluded.
More information:
IFRC’s approach to health and care
IFRC’s approach to the climate crisis
World Meteorological Organization Early Warnings for All Initiative