How Climate Change Crisis Is Worsening Nigeria’s Disease Burden

The 2022 World Health Day, themed: “Our planet, Our health” draws attention to the link between the planet and human health, as the burden of non-communicable and infectious diseases rise alongside growing incidence of climate-related challenges.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says  climate change is already impacting health in a myriad of ways, including by leading to death and illness from  increasing temperatures, rising sea levels, changing rainfall patterns, and more frequent and severe extreme weather conditions.

The global health body estimates that more than 13 million annual deaths globally are due to avoidable environmental causes, including the climate crisis.

The organisation worry that climate change is undermining many of the social determinants for good health, such as livelihoods, equality and access to health care and social support structures.

WHO deputy country representative in Nigeria, Alexander Chimbaru, said with direct consequences for the key determinants of health, climate change is negatively impacting air and water quality, food security, and human habitat and shelter.

He said the knock-on effect for the burden of heart and lung disease, stroke and cancer, among others, is evident from statistics that point to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) representing a growing proportion of Africa’s disease burden.

“In the African Region, NCDs are set to overtake communicable diseases, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional conditions combined, to become the leading cause of death by 2030. COVID-19, along with spiraling obesity, diabetes and hypertension rates, compounds the challenge, highlighting the urgency of a multi-sectoral response.

Speaking at the occasion of the World Health Day, the minister of state for health, Dr Olorunnimbe Mamora noted that the current impact of various environmental crises such as climate change, avoidable pollution, food and waterborne diseases, emerging and reemerging infectious diseases, and extreme weather events on the planet’s health and every individual is increasingly difficult to ignore.

He said  the environmental crisis has led to worsening non-communicable diseases, enhancing an ecosystem where various infectious diseases foster, worsening air quality, food and water shortages, and deteriorating mental health illness.

On the health impacts, Mamora said it primarily affect the vulnerable and the elderly populations disproportionately, especially low-income communities, minorities, children, and individuals with existing health conditions.

Quoting WHO, the minister said

approximately 80 per cent of climate change affects many children. It also impacts access to healthcare delivery services and disrupts primary health care infrastructure, involving health

care utilities, ambulatory care services, and communication systems, which are all critical to maintaining emergency medical treatment services.

Hospital supply chains may also see

disruptions, leading to shortages of essential medicines, vaccines, and medical devices, he added.

However, the minister said inline with the World Health Day theme, the government will bring together experts, policymakers, stakeholders, and development partners to set up a committee to discuss on the central scientific issues to improving and benefiting from healthy planet and respect for the integrity of living creature.

He assured that the Federal Ministry of Health will reflect on the need for strategic ideas and priorities, which should be worked on in more detail through prioritising long term decision-making that stabilises the welfare and security of Nigerians and their environment, prioritising efforts that will keep the private sector and other socio-economic organisations’ environmental and their health goals in safe hands.

“Implementing policies that reduce the use of fossil fuels, fossil fuels subsidies, its exploration and shift projects to increase clean energy production and use, increasing fossil fuels related tax as an incentive for carbon reduction, implementing the WHO air quality guidelines and shifting the country towards a green economy by 2030.’

These, Mamora said will serve as the basis for a framework for an Action Plan towards reducing human and planetary health threats.

He, however, said that the Federal Ministry of Health alone cannot achieve this, stating that various multidisciplinary and Multisectoral actions and initiatives are required at the national, regional, local, and individual levels.

“It is important that we make every effort to put environmentally friendly practices in place to lessen the harmful impact that climate change is having on patient health across the globe,” he said.