Although health impacts of climate change are being acknowledged in national planning, it is yet to translate in additional financial or human resources allocated to the health sector, the WHO said in its Health and Climate Change Survey Report released recently.
Half of the 101 countries surveyed have developed a national health and climate change strategy or plan but just about 38 per cent have finances in place to even partially implement their national strategy of plan, and fewer than 10 per cent channelling resources to implement it completely, said the report.
"Climate change is not only racking up a bill for future generations to pay, it's a price that people are paying for now with their health," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO.
"It is a moral imperative that countries have the resources they need to act against climate change and safeguard health now and in the future."
48 per cent of countries have conducted an assessment of the climate risks to public health. The most common climate sensitive health risks were identified by countries as heat stress, injury or death from extreme weather events, food, water and vector-borne diseases (such as cholera, dengue or malaria).
However, about 60 per cent of these countries report that the assessment findings have had little or no influence on the allocation of human and financial resources to meet their adaptation priorities for protecting health. Mainstreaming health in national and international climate processes could help access the necessary funds, said the report.
The survey found that countries have difficulties in accessing international climate finance to protect the health of their people. Over 75 per cent reported a lack of information on opportunities to access climate finance, over 60 per cent a lack of connection of health actors to the climate finance processes, and over 50 per cent a lack of capacity to prepare proposals.
While two-thirds of current Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the Paris Agreement mention health, and the health sector is among the five sectors most often described as vulnerable to climate change, this has not resulted in the necessary level of implementation and support.
"For the Paris Agreement to be effective to protect people's health, all levels of Government need to prioritise building health system resilience to climate change," said Maria Neira, Director, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, WHO. The 2015 Paris Agreement aims to restrict global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius compared with pre-industrial times.
