At the climate change conference COP28, that took place in Dubai until 12 December, adequate investment in human and infrastructural resources to tackle the health impact of the climate crisis in Africa has been at the center of multiple demands by academic experts.
An inaugural and historical Health Day at COP28, which focused the attention of delegates on climate change and health, has given African health experts, researchers, scientists and civil society organizations the opportunity to raise the volume of their voices in the quest for adequate health infrastructure and facilities, the training of frontline community health experts and the provisioning of other health-related services in particular, in tropical areas.
On 3 December at COP28, using the momentum mustered around the Health Day, global donors pledged an estimated US$777 million to help control, eliminate and eradicate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) from the continent of Africa.
At the same time about 40 million health professionals from around the globe joined a call to action by the World Health Organization (WHO) and civil society organisations to world leaders to make good on existing promises.
The Health Day was also preceded by a Declaration on Climate and Health signed by 123 countries in acknowledgement of the need to enable healthcare systems to be prepared for climate-related health impacts such as air pollution, extreme heat and infectious diseases.
Annual deaths from polluted air stand at about nine million, and 189 million people are exposed to extreme weather-related events each year, according to a statement about the declaration, which was developed by several countries, including Brazil, Malawi, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Netherlands, Kenya, Fiji, India, Egypt, Sierra Leone and Germany.
Indigenous medicine
Some key themes that have emerged in the African context include the need to develop human and infrastructural resources, but also the role of indigenous medicine.
“African researchers have made great strides against neglected tropical diseases, with millions of people now living free of the pain and suffering caused by these illnesses,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO regional director for Africa.
“But, to secure and build upon these gains, further investments in the training of health experts, the building of adapted training infrastructure, as well as adequate, predictable and sustained funding for more research are crucial to speed up the pace towards eliminating these diseases,” she said at COP28.
Experts also expressed the need to build the capacity of community health workers and to improve the knowledge of indigenous medicine to permit Africa to better address its multiple health crises.
“With the multiple crises we face, whether it’s climate change or the pandemic or any other public health issue, there is a need for academic research to improve indigenous knowledge to work hand in glove with modern medicines,” Dr Nicole Redvers, an associate professor at Western University in Canada and the director of indigenous planetary health, said at a WHO COP28 side event.
She has been actively involved at regional, national and international levels promoting the inclusion of indigenous perspectives in both human and planetary health research and practices.
The WHO recognises that traditional, complementary and alternative medicine has many benefits and Africa has a long history of traditional medicine and practitioners who play an important role in providing care to populations.
In a report, the WHO called on African countries to undertake relevant research and urges “national medicines regulatory agencies to approve medicines in line with international standards, which include the product following a strict research protocol and undergoing tests and clinical trials.”
The WHO estimates that about 80% of Africa’s total population uses indigenous medicine, thus the need for more training of both traditional and modern medicine experts.
Health workers
Higher education experts say health systems in Africa, to a large extent, rely on services provided by mid-level health workers who need regular capacity-building for quality service delivery.
“Investment in the regular training of mid-level health personnel is imperative, since they are more likely to be retained in underserved remote areas. They require shorter training courses that are less dependent on technology and investigations in their clinical practice than physicians,” Dr Nick Ngwanyam, the director of the St Louis University Institute for Health and Biomedical Sciences in Cameroon, told University World News.
According to a 2022 study, for countries in Africa to achieve universal health coverage, they need to have well-functioning and resilient health systems. Achieving this requires a sufficient number of qualified health workers, which necessitates investments in training, producing and regulating health workers.
The report projects that, by 2030, Africa would need an additional 6.1 million doctors, nurses, and midwives. However, based on the current trajectory, only 3.1 million would be trained and ready for service delivery.
“To reduce current shortages of the health workforce, Africa needs to educate and train 3 million additional health workers by 2030. The report was conducted to describe the distribution and ownership of the health training institutions, production of health workers, and the availability of accreditation mechanisms for training programmes in the WHO African region,” the report states.
Funding for training
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said on the Health Day that Africa needs to train more skilled health workers to be able to respond to major disease outbreak triggered by climate change.
“Africa CDC is supporting a drive to train thousands of new health workers to fill gaps in expertise.
“Less than 10% of African countries are able to respond to a major [disease] outbreak with a skilled health workforce,” said the Africa CDC director general, Dr Jean Kaseya. He said that, to meet this goal, African training institutions need adequate funding.
“We need more money from multilateral mechanisms such as the World Bank pandemic fund, USAid’s Pepfar (United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) and the Global Fund, to, not only invest in quality training institutions, but also to provide the right health services,” Kaseya said.
It is against this backdrop that the 40 million health professionals joined the call to action by the WHO.
“Climate inaction is costing lives and impacting health every single day. Health experts demand immediate and bold action to phase out fossil fuels, transition to clean energy, build resilience and to support people and communities most vulnerable to the impacts of the changing climate,” they said in their call.
“In the face of the urgent challenges posed by health and climate change, health professionals stand united in every effort to improve health outcomes and address the climate crises,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the WHO.
In addition, the international community has heeded the call of African health experts, researchers, scientists and civil society organisations for adequate funding. It was in this context that the US$777 million was pledged.
The donors and WHO officials said the money will go a long way towards supporting quality in research to help control, eliminate and eradicate neglected tropical diseases from the continent of Africa.
“The collaborative efforts of countries and global donors exemplify an unwavering dedication to improving the lives of the 1.6 billion people affected by these diseases. This partnership, especially in the face of challenges posed by climate change, represents a beacon of hope and a testament to what can be achieved through united global action,” said Ghebreyesus.
The pledging event at COP28 was hosted by Reaching the Last Mile, or RLM, the global health initiative driven by the philanthropy of the UAE President, Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. RLM joined the Gates Foundation and global partners to announce a milestone expansion of the Reaching the Last Mile Fund from US$100 million to US$500 million.
Donor organisations expressed the wish for the funds to be invested adequately to meet the health needs of vulnerable populations in Africa.
“Funding for lifesaving healthcare is critical and that is why we are joining global partners to accelerate the elimination of infectious diseases and river blindness across Africa and beyond. We hope the investments from the funds meet the needs of the vulnerable population,” Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan said at COP28.
Source: universityworldnews.com
