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UWI & CCCCC join forces with PAHO and EU to strengthen CARIFORUM climate health system resilience
Kaieteur News – The Pan American Health Organization’s (PAHO) sub-regional office issued a release on Friday stating that it has signed an agreement with the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) to enhance coordination and increase the climate resilience of health systems in the Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM) community. This initiative was funded by the European Union (EU).
According to release, the UWI highlighted that it would focus on creating an interdisciplinary cadre of 16 climate change fellows from across the region, trained in Climate Change, One Health, and Leadership. It is expected that the establishment of this network would facilitate collaboration and support of local leadership initiatives spearheaded by the climate fellows under the programme. The University disclosed that it would assist PAHO in tracking the Caribbean public perceptions on climate and health over the next five years and increase public awareness and visibility.
“The UWI is really happy to partner with PAHO on this timely and important EU-funded project. Through our fellowship program, which we hope to kick-off in the first half of 2021, we plan to develop a cadre of leaders in Climate Change and Health from across the 16 participating countries,” said Chris Oura professor at the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the UWI-St Augustine and Chair of the Technical Working Group.
Meanwhile, the Belize-based CCCCC, which coordinates the Caribbean region’s response to climate change and provides climate change-related policy advice and guidelines, would support countries in developing health adaptation funding proposals and create opportunities for heightened awareness in the region on the links between climate change and health using various communication channels.
Project Development Specialist at the CCCCC, Vincent Peter explained that “since in the ultimate analysis, climate change impacts the various dimensions of human health, we view this project as another important avenue to fulfill our mandate to assist Caribbean countries in building resilience to the impacts of climate change by empowering our people to act on climate change.”
The release stated that the EU/CARIFORUM Strengthening Climate Resilient Health Systems Project assists countries in countering the health impacts of climate change and advocates for their prioritization at the national level. To do this, representatives from the health sector in each country would support the preparation of a Health chapter in the National Adaptation Plans (H-NAP) through engagement with other national partners and following a systematic process based upon PAHO/WHO-UNFCCC guidance. This would ensure that the Caribbean sub-region is better prepared for changes in health outcomes influenced by climate change, assess the current effectiveness of current programs to manage the health risks of climate variability/change and make projections of health burdens related to future climate scenarios.
This project would be hosting a virtual workshop scheduled for December 2, for national focal points in climate change and health, environmental health as well as National Designated Authorities from beneficiary countries and universities. This workshop would focus on reaching an understanding of the current sub-regional state of H-NAP development, best practices and mechanisms to facilitate this process and agree to set quality control criteria.
Notably, the release stated that numerous CARIFORUM countries would receive support through the EU/CARIFORUM grant to develop the H-NAP and subsequent proposals for health adaptations projects. The project includes five collaborating partners and three United Nation agencies: CARICOM, the Caribbean Public Health Agency, the CCCCC, the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology & Hydrology, the UWI, the United Nations Environment Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the United Nations Development programme.
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