2023 State of Climate Services - Health
The world is warming at a faster rate than at any point in recorded history.
The changing climate undermines health determinants, things like air quality, water quality, food security, shelter, economics, livelihoods, equity and access to healthcare, and social support structures that are necessary for maintaining good health.
Such increasing pressure on health systems threatens to reverse decades of progress to promote human health and well-being, particularly in the most vulnerable communities.
Climate change impacts are not experienced equally.
50% of future excess mortality from climate change is projected to occur in Africa.
Fortunately, in 91% of Nationally Determined Contributions, health protection is already a climate policy priority.
However, health protection requires high-quality climate information to inform decision-making and action.
Better climate information and services are therefore needed to better understand how and when health systems can be impacted by climate extremes and a changing climate, and to better manage climate-related risks.
How does climate change impact health?
The impacts of climate on health are widespread. For instance as global temperatures increase, the suitability for the spread of infectious diseases such as dengue and malaria is rising.
Food insecurity is being exacerbated by the increasing frequency of heatwaves.
Vulnerable populations are facing increased exposure to extreme, life-threatening heat and millions die from air pollution every year.
Click through the slides below for more information.
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So, what can be done?
Climate information and services are fundamental for better understanding how and when health systems and population health can be impacted by climate extremes and a changing climate, and for managing climate-related risks.
Climate services for health are “the entire iterative process of collaboration between relevant multi- and transdisciplinary partners to identify, generate and build capacity to access, develop, deliver, and use relevant and reliable climate knowledge to enhance health decisions”.
These services take many forms, but all have the common goal to produce integrated and actionable climate information, stemming from a well-grounded holistic perspective of past, present, or future states of climate-related risks to society.
Stories of Success
A staggering 40% of Europeans are currently battling allergies, and the severity of seasonal allergies is intensifying, particularly when for older patients or those with respiratory comorbidities like asthma.
Real-time observations of aeroallergens in a mobile app are revolutionizing the information available to users, improving the health of millions of European allergy patients.
Climate-informed early warning systems have helped people in Fiji better prepare and respond to climatic changes, reducing morbidity and mortality from climate sensitive diseases.
Having an early warning system in place allowed Argentina's Ministry of Health to make the threat of heatwaves visible to the public, thereby reducing exposure.
The Caribbean is among the most climate-sensitive and disaster-prone regions in the world.
In an effort to reduce the impacts of the changing climate on health, In 2017, the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH) partnered with the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to coproduce a freely available quarterly Health Climatic Bulletin (HCB) for the Caribbean.
The HCB publishes early warning information on a wide array of the climate forecast’s anticipated health risks, including threats related to well-being and mental health, vector-borne diseases, respiratory illnesses, non-communicable diseases, gastrointestinal illness, and COVID-19, giving the health sector an opportunity to prepare for risk mitigation.
In Athens, Greece, temperatures are reaching 43.4 °C. The city is promoting citizen awareness and preparedness for heatwaves in an innovative manner: with an app.
EXTREMA Global utilizes data from various sources to creates user-friendly maps, guiding users to safe routes, considering the density of trees along the way. All of the information is dynamic and managed by a dashboard, so any change is immediately visible.
Case Studies
Click on the maps icons to learn more about how climate services are being applied to the health sector!
Kindly note that these have been abbreviated, full versions can be found in the report.
State of Services for Health
Despite these examples, there is huge potential for enhancing the benefits of climate science and climate services for health.
WMO monitors the capacity of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) to provide both climate and weather service functionalities, according to defined technical criteria at basic, essential, full or ‘advanced’ levels.
Since 2018, there has been ongoing growth in capacity for climate services, with most NMHSs now providing services at an ‘essential’ level.
However, most provided services from NHMSs to the health sector are not tailored specifically for the sector.
In addition, although 74% of NMHS report providing data services to the health sector, data from the WHO show that only 14% of countries have a formalized agreement between the Ministry of Health and the NMHS to enable data sharing and collaboration.
Formalized collaboration between NMHSs and Ministries of Health is key for the creation and functionality of decision-making platforms such as integrated climate and disease surveillance systems.
However, only 44 (23%) of Ministries of Health have a health surveillance system that utilizes meteorological information to monitor climate-sensitive health risks like vector borne diseases and heat stress.
The Way Forward
Transformational change is needed to fully harness the potential of climate services for health. Key recommendations for moving forward include fostering collaboration, improving investment and enhancing the role of National Hydrological and Meteorological Services (NMHSs).
Fostering Collaboration
An Implementation Plan for Advancing Integrated Climate, Environment, and Health Science and Services was endorsed by the 19 th WMO Congress in June 2023.
Improving Investment
Climate and health data, research, and climate services must be core to investments in health sector climate change adaptation and mitigation.
Improving Investment
Currently, just 0.2% of total bilateral and multilateral adaptation finance supports health-focused projects, and a far lower proportion is dedicated to creating decision support systems to support these projects and policies.
Enhancing role of NMHSs
NMHSs are encouraged to continue to nominate and support the work of health sector focal points for health-related research and service.
Enhancing role of NMHSs
NMHSs are also encouraged to share capacities, expertise, experience, and meteorological and health data to facilitate coordination and cooperation with the health community.
We'd like to close with a big thank you to all the contributing partners of this report.
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