The 2024 Future of Health Conference

     Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, at the 2024                                                  Future of Health Conference

 

by Ramatu Ada Ochekliye 

Every year, I look forward to the Future of Health Conference hosted by the Nigeria Health Watch. I have come to associate the Nigeria Health Watch with excellence as they communicate ideals that promote the health and well-being of Nigerians and dare I say, Africans as a whole.

 

At the 2023 Future of Health Conference when the theme for this year’s conference was announced, I didn’t think I would be as interested as I have been with the other editions of the conference. The theme, ‘From Evidence to Action: Building Resilience at the Climate–Health Nexus’, declared that climate change and its impact on health would be the main point of conversation.

While we work on promoting key messages about climate change at Shades of Us, I find that sometimes, conversations about climate change can be filled with words and phrases that are specific to the sector, but rarely simple enough for regular people.

As the conference drew near, I changed my mind. Yes, climate change conversations can be filled with shoptalk, but it can also be very illuminating, providing perspectives that I may not have thought of before, expanding on ideas that have shown potential for adoption, adaptation, and sustainability, and reminding us of the progress that has been made toward a more climate-resilient world.

The 2024 Future of Health Conference happened on October 24, 2024, and it more than exceeded my expectations. If there are event pictures of me during the opening statements, keynote address, and panel or fireside sessions, you will find that I was deeply focused on taking notes. And…the speakers were good communicators. The language was simple, clear, and concise, as I have come to expect with communication geared at social and behavior change. Even in a room with experts, key messages need to resonate, and the conference did with me.

A recurrent theme from all the sessions was the need for local ownership of climate actions: for us by us. The ownership of ideas and innovations by the communities most affected by climate change can lead to a sustainability of the solutions anyone proffers. People and communities are intelligent. They just need to feel trusted to solve their own problems.

Here are other points that I took from each session I attended.

Opening Statement by Vivian Ihekweazu, Managing Director, Nigeria Health Watch

I liked that her statement started by asking how well the average Nigerian understands climate change and what we are doing to create awareness about the issues, especially as they impact health. Other statements I liked are listed below.

• The threat of climate change is here and imminent. We need to take action to mitigate the effects — like flood, drought, etc — for all of us.

• The question is no longer whether climate change impacts health: it is about how much worse it will make it.

• We have to use existing evidence to inform climate action for health.

• Climate action is a journey that needs to be accelerated for healthy communities.

• We must tap into local knowledge, especially from communities beginning to adapt to climate change.

• We must ensure our advocacy is at the National, State, and Local levels.

Keynote Address by Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare

The Coordinating Minister of Health has good ideas for Nigerian health. I have followed some of the thoughts he has shared with the Sector Wide Approach and found where I, as an individual, and Shades of Us (as an organization) can contribute. I hope these ideas work for Nigeria, even if we do share political leanings. His points at the conference? They are summarized below.

• We are living in an era that is defined by some key challenges: population dynamics, movement of people from rural to urban areas, challenges of infectious diseases and emerging threats, etc. The impact of climate change is the root cause of the crisis in food systems in the country, in addition to other factors like demographic differences.

• While challenges are global, the solutions have to be local. We must proffer solutions that are localized based on our specific issues.

• The consequent impact of climate on diseases is allowing new breeds of vectors that are coming up, in addition to common endemic diseases like Lassa Fever, Yellow Fever, Cholera, etc.

• The health and wellbeing of Nigeria is cross-cutting and interconnected. Responding to climate change also creates economic value for the nation.

• We should democratize the climate conversation so the average Nigerian understands what is going on.

Keynote Address by Tamer Rabie, MD, Global Program Lead for Climate and Health at the World Bank

• Increasing extreme weather is going to be a pattern as we deal with climate change. The decisions that we are making today are going to impact the future of Nigerian health systems.

• The poor bear the brunt of the effects of climate change, and in many instances, they are not responsible for it. As we move further, we will not just live the effects but will feel the impact of climate change.

• To eradicate poverty, we must be environmentally conscious. The health sector is contributing 4–5% of global emissions contributing to climate change. If we continue the business-as-usual approach, nearly 16 million deaths will happen as a result of climate change. If unchecked, climate change will cost the global economy nearly $50 trillion. Nearly 1.2 billion people will lose their homes because of climate change.

• What is meaningful is for countries as they address climate change with the Ministries of Health and Finance to determine what the costs are for the populace.

While slightly disheartening, I believe it is important to put the cost of climate change in numbers and economical cost. Health and economical advancements are intertwined and we must treat the health of the nation as the direct cause of the growth and the development of our country, and continent.

Panel One: Addressing Climate Impact On Nutrition And Food Security

The panel was made up of Rep. Sir Samuel Ifeanyi Onuigbo, a Nigerian Politician; Dr. Adedolapo Fasawe, the Mandate Secretary of Health Services and Environment; Hussaini Abdu, PhD, an International Development Specialist And Scholar; Ritgak Tilley-Gyado, Senior Health Specialist and Team Lead, Accelerating Nutrition Results In Nigeria; and the session was moderated by Safiya Shuaibu Isa, Deputy Director Advocacy And Partnerships, Nigeria Health Watch. These were the messages that stayed with me from the panel.

• We have a national crisis but the peculiarities of this crisis are based on the regions. We cannot make any impact without involving the people in the communities. It is important that we have a climate change framework that takes in the importance of the sub-national actors.

• We should have issues of climate change in our curriculum from primary, secondary, and tertiary education.

• One major way to respond to climate change is to make the planet more smart and resilient. This requires new technologies and approaches to doing things. We need to ensure proper coordination, including with actors in the private sector, to address climate change.

• We need to include gender transformative ideas, especially around the issues women face as a major demographic affected by climate change. We also have to share information about climate change in a way that people understand so they can act for themselves and their environments.

• From the health systems angle, prioritizing primary health care is key to climate action and nutrition.

• There are climate-resistant varieties of crops that can be planted. Being able to provide early-warning information to farmers is key to climate action because food systems are incredibly affected by climate change.

Panel Two: Building Climate-Resilient Health Systems For Global Health Security

The second panel session had Desta Lakew, Group Director of Partnerships and External Affairs at Amref Health Africa; Dr. Winifred Ukponu, Associate Director (Global Health Security) at Georgetown University Center for Global Health Practice And Impact (West and Central Africa); Nanlop Ogbureke, Executive Director of Resolve To Save Lives (RTSL) in Nigeria; Abdulhamid Yahaya, Deputy Director, Global Health Informatics; and it was moderated by Dr. Chijioke Kaduru, Managing Director, Corona Management Systems. These are the thoughts I resonated most with.

• Everything we do has to be community centred. We have seen increasing challenges that climate change has brought to African countries and its communities. Sometimes, we underrate community people. We tend to think that communities do not know about climate change. Yet, they are usually the hub of information. Our job is to ensure that communities have access to healthcare at the very least. The communities are typically the first responders when climate change issues happen. We need to make sure those people who live within the communities are trained, and their capacities are built to address climate change.

• Sanitation systems are burdened by climate change. Nineteen African countries dealt with Cholera due to extreme flooding.

• Climate action does not come without financial costs. The financial impact of climate change is significant. African countries are losing between 2–5% of their GDP due to climate change. How are we working with all sectors to improve things?

• We need to be prepared for another pandemic and ensure that we have health resilience across the country. Everybody has a role to play and building capacity across board helps us be more resilient.

• Climate change is a social justice issue. Health is too. Inclusive solutions should be reflective of lived experiences. Until recently, gender was not included in climate action or solutions. Now, it is. And we need to take it forward. We also need to think of all that are affected by climate change, including people in underserved regions, people with disabilities, etc.

Fireside Chat (CEPI): Leveraging Multiplayer Collaborations For Pandemic Preparedness In The Context Of Climate Change In West Africa

The chat was moderated by Oyeronke Oyebanji, Head of Lassa Engagement at the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and had Mrs. Elsie Ilori, Public Health Expert with over 35 Years’ Leadership and Management Experience, and Dr. Julius S.M. Gilayeneh, Sr., Liberian Medical Doctor And Public Health Practitioner.

Pandemic preparedness is important as we work towards a safer, healthier Nigeria for us all. For the last three years, I have worked on communication that promotes the ideas that the prevention of infectious diseases, misinformation, and stigma is key to reducing endemics and pandemics. I liked that these point also promote the ideas I already work with.

• The increased cases of Lassa fever can be attributed to climate change. We used to report the disease from December to April. Now we report it all year round.

• We are using the One Health approach to address Lassa Fever outbreaks in Nigeria. There must be collaboration between the Animal, Human, and Environmental health sectors.

• There is a limitation to the capacity of collecting climate change data. It is key to include community stakeholders in all the efforts to address climate action. As we bring the communities along, we also need to address community hesitancy. They should be involved early on.

• African countries and African institutions should not only talk the talk but also walk the walk by investing resources to address gaps that exacerbate climate change. Our systems should evolve to be better prepared to address infectious disease outbreaks.

There were so many other deeply impactful sessions at the Future of Health Conference and you can watch them here.

We must take the needed steps to ensure that we are protecting our planet, and specifically, our communities. This is the only home we have, and if we do not protect it, the ripple effects will affect us all. These effects, especially around health, have a long lasting impact on not this generation, but future generations.

I was glad I attended the Future of Health Conference this year. There are ideas around climate action that we will pursue in 2025 and I am pumped for them.