Latest update April 8th, 2025 7:13 AM
Climate change likely reverse gains in Guyana’s Health/Agriculture sectors – WHO Report
Kaieteur News – Guyana’s agriculture and health sectors are regarded as being extremely vulnerable to climate change, due to the natural connections and dependencies that exist between climatic conditions and other aspects of life.
This is according to the recently released 2020 World Health Organisation (WHO) report on climate change.
According to the report, the phenomenon is also likely to have an impact firstly on plant development, animal health, and water availability, which in turn, will have a domino effect on agriculture and the nation’s food security.
Guyana’s agriculture sector has been supporting the livelihood of many citizens for years.
The food security will then most definitely exacerbate the triple burden of malnutrition and the metabolic lifestyle risk factors for diet-related Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs).
Lifestyle related illnesses like diabetes, hypertension and heart disease which are said to be among the leading causes of deaths in Guyana falls, in the category of NCDs.
In recent years, the local health sector has been working to scale back the number of lifestyle related ailments through a number of programmes. However, the WHO in its 2020 report on climate change, said that many of the public health gains that have been made in recent decades are at risk due to the direct and indirect impact on other sectors due to climate variability and climate change.
In its 2020 report, the WHO noted that climate change is expected to reduce short and long-term food and nutrition security.
It is explained that this will occur directly—through its effects on agriculture and fisheries, and indirectly—by contributing to underlying risk factors such as water insecurity, dependency on imported foods, migration, and health service disruption.
Further, the report stated that extreme weather events increase the demand for emergency health services but can also damage health care facility infrastructure and disrupt the provision of services.
“These impacts represent a significant health risk for nations [like Guyana], with their particular susceptibility to climate change impacts and already overburdened health systems…Increased risks of climate-sensitive diseases will require greater capacity from often already strained health services. In [developing nations], health care facilities are often in low-lying areas, subject to flooding and storm surges making them particularly vulnerable,” WHO added.
According to the WHO, these risks are distributed unevenly, with some population groups experiencing greater vulnerability.
“This vulnerability is exacerbated in Guyana by factors such as “land use, water resources, [issues with] drainage and irrigation systems, [which all] increase the exposure and sensitivity of the agriculture sector to climate impacts, “the report added.
In addition, the WHO noted that “some of the main climate change risks identified for the agriculture sector include sea level rise and saline water intrusion causing damage to crops; flooding, which causes a reduction in the discharge window available for coastal drainage.”
As a result of these occurrences, the WHO report pointed to a need for training and capacity building for public health and health care professionals to have knowledge and tools necessary to build climate-resilient health systems.
“This includes an understanding of climate risks to individuals, communities and health care facilities and approaches to protect and promote health given the current and projected impacts of climate change.”
While there are no specific WHO recommendations on national health workforce densities, the report noted that ‘Workload Indicators of Staffing Need’ (WISN) is a human resource management tool that can be used to provide insights into staffing needs and decision-making.
Additionally, the document said that the National Health Workforce Accounts (NHWA) is a system by which countries can improve progressively the availability, quality and use of health workforce data through monitoring of a set of indicators to support achievement of universal health coverage (UHC), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other health objectives.
The purpose of the NHWA is to facilitate the standardisation and interoperability of health workforce information.
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