Making use of climate funds to address health issue

The general public is well aware of the fact that the increasing number of natural calamities like cyclones, floods, downpours, droughts, heat waves and forest fires are what climate change is about and that global warming is the culprit. Also, the mitigation and adaptation measures to limit and contain the impacts of the natural calamities often dominate the deliberations at the UN climate forums organised every year. Unsurprisingly, other dimensions of climate change related especially to human health are put on the back burner. For instance, change in seasonal patterns has caused the insects behind vector-borne diseases like malaria and dengue to breed out of season. That dengue infections are taking place still in December across Bangladesh with the disease's devastating impact on the country's healthcare system is a clear evidence of how climate change has altered the dengue-transmitting mosquito, Aedes aegypti's breeding pattern in this part of the world.

Against this backdrop, the good news is that health impact of climate change is finally on the agenda of the UN climate summit (COP28) being held in Dubai of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the first-ever observance of the 'health day' on December 3. Gratifyingly, senior officials of the health ministry represented Bangladesh at that event. Also, on the inaugural 'Health Day' at COP28, efforts have been made to raise the profile of health impacts of climate change, particularly to mobilise finances for effective action to enable countries to prepare and respond. To this end, the 'COP28 UAE Declaration on Climate and Health' was signed by more than 120 member countries including Bangladesh. Interestingly, the country hosting the climate event, COP28, has committed US$1.0 billion for effective implementation of health-focused climate activities. However, to succeed in these efforts, the use of fossil fuels, the main driver of global warming and climate change with its serious health impacts, requires also to be phased out at a faster pace than it is happening. But the mentioned global declaration seems to have no such plan in sight as it has not declared any meaningful step to that end.

But the UN climate talks now with their attention turned to the climate change's health impact will happen only once in a year. Meanwhile, diseases linked to global warming including the vector-borne ones will continue to spread to new areas worsening the conditions of their victims.  According to the World Health Organization (WHO), from 2030, global death toll from four health hazards, namely, malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress will rise to 250,000 annually. Notably, malaria, dengue, zika, etc. are carried by mosquitoes whose spread across the continents is widening, thanks to the rise in global warming with its attendant heavy rains interspersed with droughts that provide more hospitable conditions for the mosquitoes to breed. The WHO further reports that in 2000 when dengue cases numbered about half a million did in a decade saw a tenfold increase to 5.0 million as of 2019. OHHowever, the development cannot also be entirely blamed on climate change. The human factor is no less responsible. The failure of the government agencies concerned to monitor the breeding grounds of mosquito and destroy those before they might spread further has obviously made matters worse in Bangladesh, especially this year.

So, as a major climate-victim nation, Bangladesh should redouble its efforts to procure and make use of the funds committed from time to time at COP events to address the health issues related to climate change. To this end, the US$ 8.0 billion worth of fund committed by the country's development partners merits especial mention.