Recent activities of climate change programme of the WHO

1. Recent activities of climate change programme of the WHO James Creswick, Technical Officer WHO Regional Office for Europe European Centre for Environment and Health

2. Consolidation of EH programmes in Bonn Coordination, Environment and Health (CEH) Coordinator, Srdan Matic Programme Assistant, Marina Hansen Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Green Health Services (CGS)- 8 PM, Bettina Menne European Environment and Health Governance, & Multisectoral Partnerships (EHG) Senior Adviser, Francesca Racioppi Technical Officer Transport and Health, Project Officer EHG, (Julia Solovieva, a.i.) Programme Assistant, European Centre for Environment and Health, Bonn (BON) - 4 Head, Michal Krzyzanowski Office Admin/Finance, Candida Sansone Environmental Exposures and Risks (EER) - 8 PM, Elizabet Paunovic Environment and Health Intelligence and Forecasting (EHI) - 9 PM, Marco Martuzzi Food Safety (FOS) P5, PM, Hilde Kruse P3, Technical Officer FOS G5, Programme Assistant Management of Natural Resources - Water and Sanitation (WSN) - 6 PM, Roger Aertgeerts 16 Country staff in: Albania, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Russian Federation, Serbia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan

3. Protecting health in an environment challenged by climate change: European Regional Framework for Action Climate change, green health services and sustainable development (CGS): http://www.euro.who.int/climatechange European Regional Framework for Action: http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/95882/Parma_EH_Conf_edoc06rev1.pdf

4. European Region: 5th Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health: Commitment to Act • integrate health issues in all climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, policies and strategies at all levels and in all sectors; • strengthen health, social welfare and environmental systems and services; • develop and strengthen early warning surveillance and preparedness systems for extreme weather events and disease outbreaks; • develop and implement educational and public awareness programs on climate change and health; • collaborate to increase the health sector’s contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen its leadership on energy- and resource-efficient management and stimulate other sectors, such as the food sector, to do the same; • encourage research and development

5. CEHAPIS Project • “Climate, Environment and Health Action Plan and Information System” co-funded project by WHO/Europe and DG SANCO. • Aim to provide an evaluation of policy options for a successful health adaptation to climate change and monitor trends. • Coherent with objectives outlined in the European Framework for Action • 6 work packages, finalized, and submitted to the European Commission. • New policy document in development based on results

6. Work Package 2 Analysis of the consequences of climate change Work Package 3 Definition of objectives & development of public health strategies Work Package 4 Analysis of the impacts & effectiveness of policy options and actions Work Package 5 Policy monitoring & assessment Work Package 6 Communication & advocacy Work Package 1 – Management and coordination Linkages between CEHAPIS Work Packages

7. Prioritization • Public heath importance: To what degree does the indicator measure a direct public health impact, severity and/or potential future public health risk? • Data availability and ease of implementation: To what extent is the data already available and/or accessible? Is additional data processing necessary? How feasible is implementation? • Respondability: To what degree are health services able/capable to respond to the issue measured by the indicator? How strongly can the indicator influence public health policy? • Relevance to climate change: To what extent does the indicator measure the (direct) effect/impact of climate change on health? Would the indicator have an influence on climate change policy?

8. Indicators • 12 refined indicators were initially proposed, conjointly with • 18 environment-related indicators of children’s health • Following indicators proposed to the member states of the EHTF

9. Scope of the Project To increase health system resilience to climate change The specific objectives of the project were to • develop national (or sub-national) environment and health adaptation plans or integrating health into existing plans; • to strengthen health systems and build institutional capacity on climate change in relation to: • extreme weather events preparedness and response • infectious disease surveillance and response • respiratory diseases early detection and response • water, food safety and malnutrition; • to transfer technology and foster innovation in energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy for health services; • to provide intelligence and facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experiences on effective adaptation and mitigation measures.

10. Specific priorities in the 7 European countries

11. Vulnerability, impact and adaptive capacity assessments

12. WHO Guidance on Climate Vulnerability & Adaptation Assessment • Raise awareness of linkages • Understand causality in local context • Build evidence of nature, magnitude and distribution of the risks • Identify gaps in understanding • Help prioritize problems and actions • http://www.who.int/globalchange/resources/adaptationresources/en/index.html

13. V&A Guidance Development Process 2010-2011 The document is based on 2003 guidance produced by WHO-EURO. The draft was pilot-tested in 12 countries, across Asia, Latin America, Europe, Canada Consultation workshop with representatives of 16 countries & experts brought together to share experience, critique and improve the document Revisions aimed for a simple and more applied guidance, rather than academic study. New documents in press.

14. NEW Guidance for Health Decision-makers Web based version includes more case studies & resource links Print version includes 20 case study examples

15. Screening adaptation options Effectiveness. The extent to which options can be expected to achieve the objectives of the proposal. Efficiency: The extent to which objectives can be achieved for a given level of resources/at least cost (cost-effectiveness) Consistency. The extent to which options are likely to limit trade-offs across the economic, social, and environmental domain. Climate change resilience: level of robustness under a changing climate

16. Strategy development • Integrate policy and establish governance • Strengthen mainstream public health and health services • Build capacity and develop the workforce • Adapt health system to climate change • 3. Enhance surveillance • 4. Improve monitoring • 5. Develop early-warning systems • 6. Strengthen health sector engagement in emergency planning • 7. Create green health services and ensure resilience • Identify benefits of adaptation • 8. Communicate and raise awareness • 9. Develop a cross-sector approach • Strengthen climate change and health intelligence • 10. Maximize environmental sustainability and health co-benefits • 11. Establish governance and sustainable resources • 12. Innovation, research and evaluation

17. Communication activities • Internal communications: email alert, ShareFile • Dedicated pages on WHO/Europe climate change website (and in partner BMU site) • Project folder and leaflets (presented at COP15 and at many other events after that one) • Posters and leaflets • Peer-reviewed articles • Young journalist involvement • Capacity building workshops and trainings • 2 Videos (presented in Parma 2010, and second at climate change conference in Bonn 2011) • Published VAs and strategies/plans from the seven countries involved in the project, as well as any other related publications and brochures • Lessons learning between countries (e.g. KGZ carried out training in UZB)

18. Public guidance documents • Improving public health responses to extreme weather events: • Heat-waves (EuroHEAT published) • Flooding (in final editing) • Cold (in final editing) • Other climate change-related health effects: • Forest fires (advisory published) • Infectious diseases

19. Extreme Weather Events – heat-waves • EuroHEAT project co-funded by European Commission focussed on: • Improving public health responses to heat-waves; • Development of heat-health action plans, their characteristics and core elements; • Probability warning every summer: http://www.euroheat-project.org/dwd/ • Revised publication 2011: http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/147265/Heat_information_sheet.pdf • Development of guidance for other extreme weather events – flooding and cold-wave guidance.

20. Forest fires public health advisory A public health information note for fires was developed during the Russian fires with information for public health authorities. http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/120090/190810_EN_Russia_wildfire_advisory.pdf

21. Floods: public health measures • Technical document, including • A scientific review of the health effects of floods in Europe • A survey with 53 European MS on response action • A review of the evidence on how to protect population health • Public health advisory • What to do during floods

22. Climate change and infectious diseases: a manual for health workers Climate change and communicable diseases. A manual for workers was developed by the Ministry of Health and the WHO office in the FYR of Macedonia. An extensive literature review including up to date evidence is in progress. http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/144172/e95095.pdf

23. Health in the Green Economy Health Co-Benefits of Climate Change Mitigation: policy briefings on: • Housing (published) • Health care facilities • Household energy sector in developing countries • Transport sector (published) • http://www.who.int/hia/green_economy/en/index.html

24. Reducing GHG emissions in health care • Healthy hospitals, healthy planet, healthy people (WHO) • Greening the health sector: pilot projects within the seven-country initiative, e.g. FYR Macedonia. • In Europe the health sector produces a 4.2% of all European GHG emissions (=287 MtCO2e); • 30% arise in countries outside of the European Union. • Measures could save between 28 and 68 Mt of CO2e emissions each year, equivalent to about 0.6% of European greenhouse gas emissions. • http://www.who.int/globalchange/publications/climatefootprint_report.pdf

25. Thank You! • James CreswickTechnical Officer, Climate Change and HealthWHO European Centre for Environment and Healthcreswickj@who.int