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  By Lastword Musekiwa The World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO-AFRO) has called on African health ministries to integrate climate change experts into their departments to effectively address the growing climate-health challenges. Speaking at a high-level ministerial side meeting of the Climate and Health Africa Conference (CHAC 2024) in Harare yesterday, WHO-AFRO Director, Healthier Populations Cluster, Dr. Adelheid Onyango, emphasized the importance of climate expertise in health departments. Dr. Onyango “The health sector needs to identify the talent, the expertise and to get them equipped for us to send our best team forward as a region so that we get the best results as far as climate adaptation is concerned on the continent,” Dr. Onyango said. As the Director of the Universal Health Coverage/Healthier Populations Cluster, Dr. Onyango provides strategic leadership for WHO’s work with governments, development partners, civil society groups, and communities to promote and protect the health and well-being of all population groups in the WHO African Region . The high-level ministerial meeting, organized by WHO-AFRO and Wellcome Trust, aimed to develop strategies ahead of the 29th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) scheduled for next month in Baku, Azerbaijan. Speaking at the same event, Zimbabwe’s Health and Child Care Minister and chairperson of the SADC Health Ministers Committee, Dr. Douglas Mombeshora, implored African health ministers to take the lead in ensuring their governments deliver on climate commitments. Dr. Mombeshora “Commitments are critical to safeguarding the health and well-being of the continent’s population. However, these commitments need to be operationalized and implemented. This calls for political commitment and leadership by Health Ministers to strategically implement with the Finance and Environment sectors in national climate action, capacity building, and the mobilization of resources to implement,” Dr. Mombeshora stressed. CHAC 2024, hosted by the Centre for Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Research (CeSHHAR) Zimbabwe, in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Climate, and Wildlife, and the Ministry of Health and Child Care, brings together researchers, policymakers, and stakeholders to address the impacts of climate change on health and well-being in Africa.

By Lastword Musekiwa The World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO-AFRO) has raised alarm on climate change’s devastating impact on Africans’ health, urging governments to formulate evidence-based policies to combat global warming. WHO-AFRO Healthier Populations Cluster Director Dr. Adelheid Onyango   Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the inaugural Climate and Health Africa Conference (CHAC 2024) in Harare yesterday, WHO-AFRO’s Healthier Populations Cluster Director, Dr. Adelheid Onyango, expressed concerns about the alarming impact of climate change factors on the continent’s health. “We in the health sector are very concerned because there are many factors being driven by climate change that affect diseases and health conditions, which end up being a burden on the health sector,” Dr. Onyango said. “What we are here to talk about is why it is extremely important to first of all tap into the knowledge that is coming out of discussions by scientists and researchers. “Use that information to address the lived and experienced problems that communities have, and to also encourage policymakers to see what the evidence is telling us, so that the policies we put in place, in terms of development – be it in health, agriculture, trade, housing, transport, etc. – all need to be strengthened such that climate change impacts are minimized,” she emphasized. Meanwhile, CHAC 2024 Chairperson, Dr. Fortunate Machingura, is advocating for a multi-faceted approach and increased funding to tackle climate change in Africa. “With climate action, you have to be thinking multisectorality, interdisciplinarity, and it’s not always easy to come up with resources that put together multiple sectors. “Often, departments of government and ministries have their own budgets already allocated to their niche, so bringing one government department and another together to share those little resources to look at the impacts of climate change is quite problematic. So, you need that coordination right at the top of the political tier of decision-making,” Dr. Machingura noted. CHAC 2024 Chairperson Dr. Fortunate Machingura To effectively address climate change, Dr. Machingura said policymakers must work collaboratively with various stakeholders, including governments, NGOs, and universities. The three-day conference, attended by over 400 delegates from 30 African countries, including ministers of health, researchers, healthcare professionals, and funders, aims to promote multisectoral collaboration, climate-informed policy, and health systems strengthening. Africa is vulnerable to the effects of climate change, with tens of millions already feeling the negative health impacts including heat-related illnesses as heatwaves become more frequent and severe, affecting vulnerable populations like pregnant women and children. Climate change is also promoting infectious diseases as it is altering the transmission and distribution of vector-borne diseases like malaria, with temperature, rainfall, and humidity influencing the spread. Water-borne diseases like cholera as flooding and contamination of water sources happen, leading to increased cases of the diseases. It’s clear that climate change is no longer just an environmental issue, but a pressing health concern that requires immediate attention and action.