How Climate Change Crisis Is Worsening Nigeria’s Disease Burden

Stakeholders are stressing the need for climate friendly policies as Nigeria begins to face burdens from worsening non-communicable diseases as a result of environmental crisis. The 2022 World Health Day, that is themed: “Our planet, Our health” drew peoples attention to the link between the planet and human health as the burden of non-communicable and infectious diseases begin to rise alongside the growth of climate-related challenges.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that climate change has already begun to impact health in a plethora of ways, including and leading to death and illness from increasing temperatures, rising sea levels, changing rainfall patterns, and more frequent and severe extreme weather conditions. WHO estimates that more than 13 million annual deaths globally are due to avoidable environmental causes, including the climate crisis. The organisation worries that climate change undermines many of the social determinants for good health, such as livelihoods, equality and access to health care and social support structures.

Alexander Chimbaru, the WHO deputy country representative in Nigeria, says that with the direct consequences for the key determinants of health, climate change is negatively impacting air and water quality, food security, and human habitat and shelter. He mentions that the knock-on effect for the burden of heart and lung disease, stroke and cancer, among others, is evident from statistics that are pointing to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) representing a growing proportion of Africa’s disease burden. In the Region of Africa, NCDs are set to overtake communicable diseases, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional conditions combined, and to become the major leading cause of death by 2030. COVID-19, along with spiraling obesity, diabetes and hypertension rates, compounds the challenge and highlights the urgency for a multi-sectoral response.

Speaking at the occasion of the World Health Day, Dr. Olorunnimbe Mamora, the Minister of State for Health, had noted that the current impact of various environmental crises such as climate change, avoidable pollution, food and waterborne diseases, emerging and reemerging infectious diseases, and extreme weather events on the planet‘s health and every individual is increasingly difficult to ignore. He says that the environmental crisis has led to worsening non-communicable diseases, enhancing an ecosystem where various infectious diseases foster, worsening air quality, food and water shortages, and deteriorating mental health illness.

On the health impacts, Minister Mamora said it primarily affect the vulnerable and the elderly populations disproportionately, especially low-income communities, minorities, children, and individuals with existing health conditions. The minister, while quoting WHO, said that approximately 80 per cent of climate change affects many children. It also impacts the access to healthcare delivery services and disrupts primary health care infrastructure, involving healthcare utilities, ambulatory care services, and communication systems, which are all critical to maintaining emergency medical treatment services. He adds that hospital supply chains could also see disruptions, leading to shortages of essential medicines, vaccines, and medical devices.

However, the minister said inline with the World Health Day theme, the government will bring together experts, policymakers, stakeholders, and development partners to set up a committee to discuss on the central scientific issues to improving and benefiting from healthy planet and respect for the integrity of living creature. He assured that the Federal Ministry of Health will reflect on the need for strategic ideas and priorities, which should be worked on in more detail through prioritising long term decision-making that stabilises the welfare and security of Nigerians and their environment, prioritising efforts that will keep the private sector and other socio-economic organisations’ environmental and their health goals in safe hands.

Implementing policies that reduce the use of fossil fuels, fossil fuels subsidies, its exploration and shift projects to increase clean energy production and use, increasing fossil fuels related tax as an incentive for carbon reduction, implementing the WHO air quality guidelines and shifting the country towards a green economy by 2030. These, Mamora said will serve as the basis for a framework for an Action Plan towards reducing human and planetary health threats. He, however, mentions that the Federal Ministry of Health alone cannot achieve this, stating that the various multidisciplinary and Multi-sectoral actions and initiatives are required at the national, regional, local, and individual levels.

“It is important that we make every effort to put environmentally friendly practices in place to lessen the harmful impact that climate change is having on patient health across the globe”