Posted by Patricio V. Marquez on Mon, 11/14/2022

External – non-World Bank Blog - views do not represent World Bank policy or guidance

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Takeaways

As countries and the international community respond to the ongoing crises, there is an urgent need to integrate climate and development strategies to deliver green, resilient, and inclusive development. This is key for reducing poverty and boosting shared prosperity globally and for minimizing the risk of pandemics and other societal catastrophes that cause widespread social, economic, and political hardship.

The nature and characteristics of health-related impacts of climate change should reinforce our understanding that the improvement of health conditions is not only about better access to medical care to treat the sick, or how we more efficiently finance health systems. Above all, we need to be mindful that unless we pay more attention to issues surrounding life conditions, including the destruction of the environment and climate change caused by GHG emissions from human activities, and their linkage to poverty and ill health, our work will not help achieve healthy and longer lives for the population across the world.

This means that if action in the health sector is not properly linked to mitigation and adaptation to climate change in countries and globally, and to other broader economic and social development efforts, it will not help address existing and growing global health inequities, particularly affecting the poorest and less developed countries. Indeed, climate change impacts on the social determinants of health have the potential to magnify vulnerability among the poorest and most vulnerable communities, which are already easy prey to a variety of shocks—economic, health-related, natural disasters and armed conflicts—contributing to perpetuate poverty across generations; increase ill health, avoidable death, and disability; and undermining human capital development and hence economic innovation and competitiveness, employment, and wealth creation.

Focusing on climate change and the potential negative health sequelae and mounting a preemptive and sustainable response to adapt and limit their damage should be an integral part of the progressive realization of universal health coverage post-pandemic, critical to reduce social vulnerability, build resilience, and contribute to realizing the full economic potential of countries in the 21st Century.

If policies and strategies are adopted by governments to reduce emissions and other short-lived climate pollutants, and individuals and communities feel responsible for and are actively engaged in their implementation, clear and measurable economic, social, and health benefits can be achieved.

But, beyond scientific evidence and understanding, our resolve to do something to prevent the destruction of the natural environment and climate change, and hence their negative economic, social and health impact, has to be guided by moral conviction as well. As Pope Francis’ Encyclical challenges us to do, we need to recognize that what is at stake is human life itself, and as humans, we have the obligation to defend it. Therefore, it should be clear to all going forward, that the policy and investment decisions that governments and populations adopt and support over the short-and long terms to deal with climate change and other concurrent mega threats will ultimately reflect decisions on what kind of society a country wants to have.

A Policy Perspective on Climate Change, Health, and Health Systems

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