The occasion was the seventh World Health Day organized by the Centre for 21st Century Issues (C21st) on Friday April 7, 2023. The event was also used to mark the 75th anniversary of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The theme of the event which was held virtually with participation of valued stakeholders from all parts of the world was “The Health System in a Changing Climate".
The tone for the event was set by the Program Manager of the Centre, Mrs. Titilola Kazeem-Arnold who expressed the desire of her organization to partner all relevant stakeholders both at home and abroad in finding lasting solutions to the scourge which threatens human existence.
To achieve the desire for working out a sustainable blueprint for stemming the tide, Kazeem-Arnold stated that the Centre took extra care to select experts with practical experience to speak on the various topics that have been identified for discussion at the event.
“The speakers and participants for this event have been drawn from the health system and the environmental community,” she said, adding that the issue of climate change should be mainstreamed into the global discourse as a means of sustaining human existence.
According to her, millions of people across the globe suffer some form of negative impact from the effects of climate change directly or indirectly, saying the major impact has been seen in the extreme weather events, disruption in the food system.
She stated that the event was specifically put in place to appraise the impact of climate change in the global health system, particularly in West Africa with specific focus on Nigeria, adding that the event was also aimed at not only identifying the problems but to also articulate solutions to the problems in a more sustainable manner.
In her opening remarks, the Executive Director of C21st, Ms Gbemisola Akosa echoed Kazeem-Arnold to stated that participants are renowned global experts with cognate experience in the health and environmental communities with a view to do justice to the task of appraising the theme of the event.
Akosa apologized for the timing of the event which fell within the Easter celebration period when Christians all over the world were celebrating the death and resurrection of Christ all over the world.
She stated that her Centre decided to go ahead with the event as the day fell on the precise date that had been earmarked for marking the day and that it was not expedient to shift it away as it is customary globally.
The climate and gender activist stated that the impact of climate change has been so disruptive to human existence, with specific regards to global health which is constantly reeling under its negative impacts.
She acknowledged efforts of various organizations` such as the United Nations through many of its agencies and other numerous institutional and individual partners for doing a lot to stem the tide using data and advocacy as tools.
According to her, concerted efforts must be made by all and sundry to assist these numerous institutions in ensuring a more sustaining world free of the pangs of climate change in the world.
Akosa urged speakers and participants to clearly identify all the issues attached to the scourge with a view to fashion out workable solutions for solving the problems in the interest of humanity.
The Lead Speaker, Dr. Ayodotun Bobadoye who is the Chief Operating Officer of Global Emerging Pathogens Treatment Consortium (GET). He is also an Associate Professor of Environmental Biosecurity at the Forestry Research Institute (FRIN) titled his paper, “Addressing Ecological Determinants of Human Health and Ecosystem.
He started by identifying Mother Earth as the basis for studying the scourge in terms of its negative impact on the ecosystem with respect to global wellbeing of both the flora and fauna assets of the country.
Bobadoye stated that concerted efforts must be made to protect the Earth as giver of life to humanity and other living and non-living that dependent on it for sustainability, saying if we fail to protect the Earth, it would not be able to take care of humanity and all others who depend on it for survival.
While listing the various determinants for good health, Bobadoye stated that ecological determinants have had so much impact on the well-being of humanity in the last few years when the pang of climate change is being felt by humanity.
To him, the components of ecology to which humanity depends on for its survival include, the air, water and food, saying anything that affects these three elements will impact positively or otherwise the collective wellbeing of man.
“The impact of climate change on the quality of air we breathe affects, the food we eat and the water we drink affect and impact positively or negatively on our individual and collective wellbeing,” he said.
He attributed the upsurge in the number of diseases plaguing humanity to the scourge saying these diseases are carried by vectors and quality of air available to humanity especially in the third world countries.
While tracing the evolution of climate change, he stated that the changes that have occurred in the weather pattern, particularly the frequency of rainfall and heat wave is also a cause for concern for the health of humanity with respect to their wellbeing.
He stated that rainfall patterns have disrupted the ecosystem prompting security and water related crises amongst communities in Africa just as it has impacted negatively on personal or communal sanitation in various countries making up the continent.
According to him, the impact is even becoming pronounced in the health sector prompting upsurge in vector induced diseases such as malaria and the likes which is even more becoming so prevalent across the continent.
Apart from irregular water supply through rainfall and drought occasioned by drying up of lakes and rivers, Bobadoye stated that air pollution is also a factor in the scourge saying the quality has dropped significantly necessitating health issues amongst the citizens.
He added that uncontrolled human settlement development efforts have even exposed humanity to airborne diseases carried by animals which are eventually transmitted to man from animals.
On the way forward, he stated that “For us to address the problem of public health, we need to take care of our neighbours adequately. Who are our neighbours? I mean the plants and animals we live with. We have to take care of the Earth which God has given to us all.”
While advocating for what he termed “One Health”, Bobadoye stated that humanity needs to take into cognizance, issues of plant, animal and human health as another means of combating the scourge.
He stated that humanity cannot live outside its environment; he concluded that humanity needs to evolve inter-disciplinary methods to address the problem, saying it would cater effectively for plant, animal and human health as a connective mode to sustain global wellbeing of all living things.
A health researcher, consultant and scholar with the Federal University, Akure; Mrs. Oluwaseun Lawal in her paper titled “The Impact of Climate Change on Healthcare: Issues and Challenges took an holistic overview of healthcare and system put in place to manage it.
Like Bobadoye, she linked human activities to the scourge of climate change, saying human health and wellbeing have been badly affected and vector causing diseases relating to the phenomenon, saying no fewer than 400,000 people are lost to the problem on an annual basis due to diseases related to climate change.
“This data is so scary and we have been told that the figure will rise up to 700,000 fatalities by the year 2030,” she said, adding that 2.5 per cent of global Gross Domestic Product is lost to the scourge.
According to her, the damage to the global health system amounts to between $2 to 4 billion annually when quantified, saying the cost is resultant from too much demand on the health system facilities owing to increase in prevalence of diseases globally.
Lawal also highlighted impacts of climate change induced fatalities, which she stated usually impact negatively on healthcare delivery as these natural disasters disrupt supply chains thus reducing access of those who seek cure and remedy from healthcare providers.
She also linked the prevailing issue of malnutrition to climate owing to the fact that the continent has witnessed so much distribution in the pattern of rainfall and other occurrences of natural disasters which has impacted negatively on food production necessitating food shortage.
According to her, “Globally, the healthcare sector emits 4.4 per cent of global greenhouse gas emission,” and that the multilateral funding or support for the sector has been very low and insignificant for so long.
She stated that over 24 million people across the globe have been left without access to healthcare services from providers across the world with a call on governments across the world to scale up the budget for the sector and that materials to be deployed for the envisaged infrastructure upgrade must be tailored towards the reduction of greenhouse emission.
This she said must go hand in hand with training of personnel on the issues around climate change as well as deployment of climate friendly tools in the day-to-day operations of these personnel in the discharge of their duties.
An infectious disease consultant with the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Dr. Adefolarin Opawoye in his paper titled “Pathway to Climate Resilient Health System in Nigeria” spoke on how the country’s healthcare have evolved adaptive measures against climate change.
He started his paper with a call on government officials in the healthcare sector to understand all the issues around climate change with a view to developing a workable framework but he however lamented that the sector has faced so much in terms of brain drain and underfunding from government over the years to be able to turn things around urgently.
Specifically, he listed impacts that climate change have made in the sector to include, damage to facilities, disruption of healthcare supply chain and brain drain of personnel needed to man the sector effectively.
Opawoye listed four cardinal climate change mitigation plan such as effective disease monitoring and surveillance mechanism, improvement in the laboratory services, disease reporting systems as well as improvements in the public health emergency systems in the country.
Other measures include public awareness, community participation in advocacy as well as use of adaptive policies and tools. He also called for political will for multi-lateral cooperation amongst all stakeholders on the path of government.
Rounding off the event was the vote of thanks offered by the Programmes of the Centre, Mrs. Titilola Kazeem-Arnold who thanked both participants and resource persons for the attendance stated that the event indeed generated some solutions to the problem with a call on everyone to be at the vanguard of safeguarding the world from the pang of climate change.
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