Wednesday 18 November 2009

Chair: Fiona Godlee, Editor-in-Chief, BMJ, UK
Moderator: Kumanan Rasanathan, Technical Officer, Ethics, Equity, Trade and Human Rights, WHO
Presenters: Sarah Walpole, Climate and Health Council, UK; Jaime Teran-Reyes, Instituto Nicaraguense de Seguros y Reaseguros (INISER), Nicaragua; Dziedzom K. de Souza
, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Ghana; Gilma Mantilla, International Research Institute for Climate and Society, Columbia University, USA.

The issue: Finding synergies in policy between environmental health and equity agendas

The context: Climate change is already affecting the health of people in developing nations, but it is still not high enough on the global climate adaptation agenda. Creating climate adaptation policies that also take health impacts into account is complex.

Main points made by presenters:
Climate change has had a negative effect on health equity since it affects the most vulnerable populations. However, climate adaptation policies can sometimes make the situation even worse. For example, biofuels policies were intended to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels. In the past few years though, farmers have abandoned crop production in favour of growing biofuel crops, exacerbating the food crisis.

Understanding the geographical components of the link between climate change and health is crucial. Data from geographical information systems (GIS) should be integrated with health information systems to provide a cohesive look at changes in disease spread, for example.

Health researchers who study the effects of climate change cannot be content with just understanding the changing epidemiology of disease – they need to stay familiar with the latest technologies of monitoring climate change.

Where next?
- Mapping out all the likely effects of climate adaptation policies will be important – rather than just assuming that tackling climate change will improve health.

- Environment and health researchers need to have more meaningful exchanges to really ensure intersectoral collaboration.

- Integrating different data systems will give a better overview of how climate change is affecting health, and help lead to early-warning systems