Abstract:
The health sector response to dealing with the impacts of climate change on human health,
whether mitigative or adaptive, is influenced by multiple factors and necessitates creative approaches
drawing on resources across multiple sectors. This short communication presents the context in
which adaptation to protect human health has been addressed to date and argues for a holistic,
transdisciplinary, multisectoral and systems approach going forward. Such a novel health-climate
approach requires broad thinking regarding geographies, ecologies and socio-economic policies,
and demands that one prioritises services for vulnerable populations at higher risk. Actions to
engage more sectors and systems in comprehensive health-climate governance are identified. Much
like the World Health Organization’s ‘Health in All Policies’ approach, one should think health
governance and climate change together in a transnational framework as a matter not only of health
promotion and disease prevention, but of population security. In an African context, there is a
need for continued cross-border efforts, through partnerships, blending climate change adaptation
and disaster risk reduction, and long-term international financing, to contribute towards meeting
sustainable development imperatives.
