Addressing the Health Impacts of a Changing Climate
Climate change poses a complex, multifaceted threat to health and well-being, particularly in low- and middle-income countries like India. With a population of over 1.3 billion, India faces increasing and worsening weather events – devastating storm systems, floods, wildfires, and heatwaves – resulting in a death rate 15 times higher than in less vulnerable regions. Over a third (37%) of heat-related deaths, undernutrition, pollution, and diarrheal disease in India are attributed to climate change.
For every 1°C rise in global temperatures, the risk of maternal mortality and morbidity in India goes up by 7.7%. The World Health Organization estimates that between 2030 and 2050, climate change will cause 250,000 additional deaths annually in India, and by 2030, direct costs to the country’s health systems will be $2-4 billion per year.
However, India’s health systems are not just impacted by climate change – they are also the fifth largest global contributor to climate change, responsible for 5.2% of global carbon emissions. Addressing this dual challenge requires a comprehensive, partner-oriented approach to advance action that mitigates the effects of climate change and builds resilient health systems for a healthier, more sustainable future.
Strengthening Health Surveillance and Response Capacities
There are intricate linkages between climate change and the spread and epidemiology of infectious diseases in India. Primary health care (PHC) is the first and best line of defense, so PATH collaborates closely with state governments and health care workers to strengthen their health systems’ large-scale testing, screening, surveillance, outbreak management, and response capacities.
Along with our technology partner ARTPARK, we are deploying a climate-informed artificial intelligence (AI)-based early warning system, which can predict impending dengue fever outbreaks four weeks in advance with close to 70% accuracy. This warning enables district and subdistrict officials to provide timely outbreak management and response.
In Uttar Pradesh, we partnered with veterinarians and medical professionals to vaccinate cows and raise community awareness, protecting lives and livelihoods while preventing the spread of zoonotic diseases like anthrax. As part of the USAID-funded Infectious Disease Detection and Surveillance Project, Uttar Pradesh is now the first state in India to have two veterinary labs recommended for international accreditation.
We joined forces with Rajasthan’s Ministry of Health to develop a multisectoral plan for better disease surveillance, decentralized diagnostic testing, and a community-based surveillance system to help health care workers identify and report zoonotic pathogens, including COVID-19.
We also teamed up with Maharashtra’s Ministry of Health to train their health care workers on the importance of risk reduction and treatment adherence for people with noncommunicable diseases and mental health issues. This helps communities be more resilient in the face of climate-related disasters.
Deploying Sustainable and Resilient Technologies
Innovation is central to PATH’s mission, so we seek out opportunities to co-create sustainable technologies that perform effectively in health facilities with limited resources. In Gujarat, we deployed Blackfrog® Technologies’ Emvólio™ solar-powered portable medical-grade refrigerators, which can maintain any preset temperature for 15 hours, to 800 PHC facilities and trained over 1,000 health workers in vaccine storage and transport.
The Emvólio’s effectiveness in maintaining cold chains during extreme weather events led to more than 150,000 routine and COVID-19 vaccination doses administered in hard-to-reach areas. PATH is now deploying 100 units to PHC facilities in Rajasthan.
Oxygen generator plants (OGPs) are critical tools, but they use significant amounts of energy, with electricity costs consuming 70-80% of total maintenance budgets. To address this inefficiency, we assessed the benefits, cost-effectiveness, and sustainability of setting up solar-powered OGPs in government hospitals in Telangana. We found significant cost savings and a reduction of 4,900 tons of greenhouse gas emissions over the OGP’s 25-year lifespan.
Catalyzing Collective Climate-Health Action
Climate change is a global responsibility, so we foster alliances and coalitions to advance adaptation and mitigation goals. At COP28, PATH and the Commonwealth Secretariat co-launched the Accelerator for Resilience in Climate and Health (ARCH), an end-to-end platform that scouts, deploys, funds, and scales low-carbon innovations.
ARCH supports health systems and communities in the 56 Commonwealth countries to reduce their carbon footprint through strategic interventions – climate-health vulnerability assessments, capacity-building, private-sector engagements, innovative financing, innovation transfers, and regional knowledge hubs. It aims to touch the lives of 2.5 billion people and has a pipeline of 20 high-impact innovations ready for deployment.
We also value climate-aware mental health support as a critical part of reducing long-term distress. After Cyclone Mocha in Tamil Nadu, 3.4 million people were homeless or in severe distress, 10,000 were at risk for depression, and 50,000 were at risk for anxiety. In partnership with WHO, we provided technical and emergency response support to the Tamil Nadu government for mental health – approximately 14,000 people participated in educational and community-led activities, and almost 1,000 received psychological first aid and basic counseling.
To catalyze collective climate-health action in India, PATH launched the Sustainable Action for Climate Health (SACH) Initiative with the Centre for Health Research and Innovation in New Delhi, with funding from USAID. SACH comprises over 70 key partners, including corporations, academic institutions, private-sector actors, health care chains, development organizations, donors, and community-based organizations.
SACH uses a multipronged approach to enhance the climate adaptiveness and resilience of health facilities, workplaces, and communities across India. An online platform facilitates coherent demand/supply matching, collates existing knowledge on climate and health, and provides an interactive space where partners can share information about adaptation goals and mitigation efforts, such as reducing air pollution and improving water, waste, and heat stress management.
The Path Forward
At the 2024 World Health Assembly, member states approved a landmark resolution on climate and health, underscoring the importance of a strong and resilient primary health care system as part of an essential defense against health threats. PATH recently hosted a “Climate x Health—The next frontier of climate-resilient PHC” webinar, rich with insights on local solutions and future opportunities to mitigate and adapt to climate change as part of strengthening India’s health systems.
By investing in climate-informed surveillance, deploying sustainable technologies, fostering multi-stakeholder collaboration, and prioritizing mental health support, we can build the resilience of India’s health systems to withstand the growing impacts of a changing climate. As a seasoned expert in this field, I believe these pathways offer a holistic roadmap to safeguard the health and well-being of communities across the country.
