Dakar — More than 80 health and climate change experts, partners and civil society representatives today agreed on a five-year strategic plan for the African region to support countries build resilient and sustainable health system and make health an integral part of negotiations on climate-change adaptation and mitigation.

Meeting in Senegal from 24 to 26 September 2024 for the Fifth Clim-HEALTH Africa meeting. The experts also set in motion discussions and collaborations aimed at driving bold climate actions to address Africa’s climate-induced health challenges. Clim-HEALTH Africa is a consortium for Climate and Health bringing together African technical institutions and international partners to guide and strengthen the public health resilience of African countries and communities to climate change. The network has been working with partners to help predict, prevent, and manage acute public health effects of climate change in Africa through evidence-based climate-informed planning, capacity building and expert knowledge sharing.

African countries are experiencing increasing climate-linked emergencies. In 2023 alone, extreme weather events killed more than 15 000 people, with droughts affecting more than 88 million people across six African countries, according to World Health Organization (WHO) data. However, only 22 countries in the region have national health adaptation plans and less than 20% of the countries have health mentioned in their nationally determined contributions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

“Our region is home to six countries of the top ten most disaster affected countries in the world, with heatwaves, floods, cyclones and wildfires affecting health and livelihoods of millions of people,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. 

The finalization of a Clim-HEALTH Africa strategic work plan comes at a time when health is receiving increasing attention in the global discourse on climate change. The plan marks an important step in the continent’s climate change advocacy drive, as it clearly defines how countries can develop national health adaptation plans, integrate climate change and health challenges into national programmes. The plan also ensures the availability of climate and health indicators that will address issues of early warning systems. 

With the growing need for countries to have climate-resilient health systems that can adapt to emerging threats, while continuing to meet existing health needs, knowing how to optimize resources remains key. The Clim-HEALTH Africa meeting was an opportunity to strengthen experts’ capacities in climate negotiations in the bid to raise the voice of health in international climate debates. 

This meeting organized with support from Wellcome Trust and Spanish Government Agency, builds on Clim-HEALTH Africa’s past four gatherings. In 2017, a roundtable of Clim-Health Africa consortium-initiated discussions around using early warning systems for climate-sensitive diseases. A system which has so far been implemented in three pilot African countries to anticipate and rapidly control some infectious diseases like malaria.  

The key shifts highlighted in this year’s meeting include a focus on setting up a coordination mechanism for contributing to global climate and health indicators work programme, building Africa health negotiators’ capacities in climate diplomacy and negotiations and planning for Clim-HEALTH Africa five years activities’ agenda.

“The African regional plan lays a strong foundation for concrete steps that countries can take to address these challenges, assert Africa’s health voice in climate change forums and be resilient in the face of these emerging challenges,” said Dr Moeti.