Climate & Health CAFÉ

To deliver high-quality and affordable healthcare, healthcare facilities must have basic infrastructure like electricity, water, sanitation, and waste management systems (1). However, climate change, environmental pollution, and extreme weather events of increasing frequency and severity are worsening the physical conditions of health facilities and putting pressure on staff to respond to stressors from climate-related health impacts. To address this challenge, the World Health Organization (WHO) recently released a new report to provide policymakers, healthcare administrators, and healthcare practitioners with guidance on how to develop safe, climate-resilient, and sustainable healthcare facilities amidst rising environmental crises (1). The report, titled “Safe, climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable health care facilities: an overview,” provides a synopsis of the current environmental challenges healthcare facilities face and highlights key resources to inform healthcare facility action and practice (2). Key actions that healthcare facilities can take include: ⚠️ Conducting assessments to understand the vulnerability of healthcare facilities in response to climate health hazards 🗒️ Developing and implementing a disaster preparedness and response plan 💡 Implementing and evaluating a plan for healthcare facilities and systems to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions to ensure sustainability 🌎 Adopting climate-resilient technologies and processes with low environmental impact See resources and articles cited below: (1) https://lnkd.in/eMNP7xvS  (2) https://lnkd.in/enesvgEn photo credits: WHO/Henitsoa Rafalia

Today is the last day to submit a conference session proposal for the CAFE Climate & Health Conference, 2025! Submit your proposal here: https://loom.ly/hTG7u48

Air pollution is associated with higher risk of respiratory disease including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and lung cancer, as well as a range of reproductive, cardiovascular, and systemic inflammation diseases that impact almost every organ in the body. Globally, exposure to air pollution comes from a combination of indoor and outdoor sources (1). Continued climate change threatens to slow or reverse improvements in air quality seen in many countries over the last several decades. #WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced that #WHO will host its second #GlobalConferenceonAirPollution in Cartagena, Colombia from March 25 to March 27, 2024 (2). The Conference, titled “Accelerating action for clean air, clean energy access and climate change mitigation,” will highlight evidence-based strategies and collaborative efforts across cities, countries, and regions of the world designed to protect human health in the context of continued climate change (3). #WHO will invite Member States, elected officials, and international organizations to participate in the Conference. The Conference will feature sessions on data and health evidence, policy and intervention, governance, and leadership and advocacy with the goal of supporting global achievement of #WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines. #ClimateHealth #AirQuality More information on the Conference will be released in the coming months. To stay up to date, visit the Conference event page here: https://lnkd.in/dNCxqmha  See resources and articles cited below: (1) https://lnkd.in/eJ-zXjrS). (2) https://lnkd.in/eJSSn_6m (3) https://lnkd.in/dNCxqmha photo credits: WHO air pollution and health conference

Stories hold the power to inspire change, motivate action, and build community, and personal stories about climate change in particular can shift beliefs by increasing emotional engagement and empathy. Apply to participate in the CAFÉ Public Narrative Workshop, a program that will provide an opportunity to learn about change-oriented storytelling and establish a narrative that expands the social impact of their climate and health research. Applications due Jan 15. https://lnkd.in/eYPYK3T8

Time is running out to submit your conference session proposals for the CAFE Climate and Health Conference 2025! Submissions are due this Friday, December 6th, at 11:59PM ET. For more information and to submit your session, see our website: https://lnkd.in/d2qFhu5S

The growing health impacts of climate change in South Africa—including extreme heat, drought, flooding, and chemical exposures—calls for an accelerated effort to translate climate and health research into policy solutions. On November 22, Climate & Health CAFÉ, the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), and Wits RHI convened researchers, government representatives, and advocates to identify policy gaps for critical climate-health challenges and opportunities to improve research translation in those areas. This effort launched a new coordination mechanism to implement some of the many action items participants generated, including preparing comics for publication in national media outlets, engaging youth to develop evidence-based messages for public transport, informing government officials in advance of new research findings, and more. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/enprmkrU Pictured: The SAMRC Environment & Health Research Unit— Muthise B., Nomfundo Thobeka Mahlangeni, Caradee Wright, and Amy Gabrielle Sheldon.

We're excited to have Antonio Gasparrini joining us next week on December 4th to talk about the case time series design for climate and health studies, based on his own methodological work. Join us for this next installment of the CAFE University webinar series Wednesday, December 4th at 9:00am ET. Register here: https://lnkd.in/eF9UQUvf

The Pan American Health Organization (#PAHO) recently approved a new policy on health, climate change, and equity that seeks to strengthen the health sector, increase funding for climate and health, protect vulnerable communities, and improve climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts. The policy explicitly recommends making the health sector greener in combination with responding to the unmet needs of underserved and vulnerable populations, including low-income households, Indigenous Peoples, and migrant communities (1). The policy aligns with the #WHO Resolution on Climate Change and Health and the and the #UnitedNations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The #PAHO Policy to Strengthen Equity-Oriented Health Sector Action on Climate Change and Health highlights five key actions: ➡ Adaptation: strengthen the health sector’s ability to anticipate, prevent, respond to the impacts of climate change ⚖ Mitigation: strengthen the health sector’s capacity to build low-carbon health systems to reduce current and prevent future health inequities 💡 Awareness: strengthen community and societal participation in climate change and health action efforts 🔎 Surveillance: improve collection and use of climate change and health data to protect health and reduce health inequities. 💰 Financing: improve funding for climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts, particularly for vulnerable and under-resourced communities See resources and articles cited below: (1) https://lnkd.in/eTJcSixS photo credits: iStock/Cid Guedes

We had a wonderful and informative talk yesterday with Dr. Hassan about implementation science in climate and health! Did you miss it? The recording is now available on our YouTube channel and our website. Watch it here: https://lnkd.in/d2kNdcX7

Starting soon!