This Action Plan provides a national strategic framework for building resilience and reducing health risks and vulnerabilities caused by climate change, enhancing the resilience of the health system and contributing to the control of greenhouse gas emissions in the face of current and future climate challenges.
Increased temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns are expected to elevate the transmission of vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever, and undermine the quality and availability of social and environmental determinants critical to health, such as clean air, clean water, adequate food and safe housing. Climate change is also projected to increase the incidence of respiratory diseases due to deteriorating air quality.
The Action Plan outlines actions such as establishing a cross-programme and cross-sector Working Group for climate change adaptation in the health sector; capacity building for health workers; monitoring and evaluating climate-sensitive diseases; baseline carbon emissions assessment of health facilities; enhancing networks for climate change research in the health field; and cataloguing and outreach regarding low-carbon and climate-resilient healthcare facilities
