Health care sector urged to help reduce climate change effects

With climate change perceived as the biggest health threat of the 21st century, the World Health Organization urged anew the global health care sector to do its part in mitigating the dire effects of climate change. The WHO’s calls for health facilities to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions came in the midst of the UN-initiated climate change conference in Copenhagen, where government leaders are hoping to arrive at a historic agreement to fight global warming. Impact on human health In a report, WHO and the Health Care Without Harm (HCWH), an international coalition of health care systems and professionals, recognize that one of the most disturbing effects of climate change is its possibly devastating impact on human health. “A warmer and more variable climate threatens to lead to higher levels of some air pollutants, increase transmission of diseases through unclean water and contaminated food, to compromise agricultural production in some of the least developed countries, and increase the hazards of extreme weather," the WHO stated. Such hazards include infectious diseases like cholera, diarrhea, malaria, and dengue, and increased incidence of extreme weather events like floods and droughts that will likewise negatively impact health. The report adds that climate change implications will disproportionately be greater for vulnerable populations, such as the very young, the elderly and the medically infirm, as well as for people living in coastal and small island communities. Health sector partly to be blamed The groups admit that the global health sector is in part to be blamed for the “significant" amount of its carbon emissions. In the US for example, healthcare buildings like hospitals are the second most energy-intensive commercial sector buildings, spending US$ 8.5 billion on energy annually to meet patient needs. Hospitals in Brazil, meanwhile, account for 10.6% of the country’s total energy consumption. Similarly, the National Health Service in England has calculated its carbon footprint at more than 18 million tons of CO2 each year, or 25% of total public sector emissions. As a result, the US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the health sector’s 73 billion kWh of electricity use adds over US$600 million per year in increased health costs as cases of asthma, respiratory illness and hospital emergency department visits likewise notably increase. The European Commission likewise estimates that air pollution causes 369,000 premature deaths in Europe each year. With the health sector’s commitment to “first, do no harm", the WHO recognizes that it is imperative for the health care sector to ensure that its practices, the products it consumes and the buildings it operates do not harm human health and the environment. What can be done A reduction in the health care sector’s climate footprint, thus, may result in an overwhelming improvement in health and living conditions. For example, non-government organizations believe that if the European Union would reduce gas emissions by 30% below 1990 levels by 2020, the benefits would include 105,000 less life years lost, 5,300 less cases of chronic bronchitis, and 2,800 less hospital admissions. The groups prescribe seven elements for a hospital to be climate-friendly: • Reduced hospital energy consumption and costs • Hospital buildings optimized for reduced energy and resource demands • Production of clean, renewable energy on-site • Encouragement of walking, cycling, and the use of public transport • Sustainably grown local food for staff and patients • Alternatives to waste incineration • Conservation of water, including avoiding bottled water when safe alternatives exist These prescriptions have not been impossible to achieve. India’s Central Hospital, for example, reduced electric energy use for its 350-bed facility by installing solar water heaters and solar light. Singapore’s Changi Hospital likewise did environmental initiatives like sun-shading devices, use of natural light and low-flow water fixtures, resulting in the reduction in energy and water costs of up to US$ 800,000 a year. The WHO and HCWH thus call on parties to the UN Climate Change Conference to support climate change mitigation by the health sector throughout the world, as it likewise urged hospitals and health systems to educate their staff on climate change issues and review their practices to maximize climate mitigation efforts. - JV, GMANews.TV