Devex CheckUp: The health sector begins to reckon with climate change

The effects of climate change on people’s health are coming into alarming focus across the global south. People are dangerously hungry in the Horn of Africa after a multiyear drought decimated crops and starved their animals. In Pakistan, unprecedented floods cut off people’s access to essential medicines. Malawi also suffered from floods that have unleashed a lengthy cholera outbreak in the country. How to prevent these health crises — or the climate catastrophes that trigger them — is less clear. Health experts huddled in Kigali, Rwanda, last week for the Africa Health Agenda International Conference, where they brainstormed how to draw a stronger connection between the impacts of climate change and human health. “Health came very late to the table on the climate change agenda,” Kris Murray, a professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said during a panel. At the same time, researchers told my colleague Sara Jerving that they are working on building an evidence base around the most cost-effective strategies they can recommend to governments both to improve climate resilience and prevent some of the worst health impacts when climate emergencies strike. One issue they may want to quickly table is how to protect the supply chains that deliver essential medicines, such as HIV treatment, heart medicines, and cancer drugs. As I reported this week, last year’s floods in Pakistan showed just how vulnerable those connections are. But shoring them up will mean not just looking at the last mile. Policymakers will need to strengthen any link in the supply chain that is vulnerable to climate emergencies — including manufacturers that may be sitting on the other side of the world. Read: The climate emergency is turning fragile supply chains into a crisis Plus: African policymakers ask for more data on climate and health ICYMI: Malawi battles deadliest cholera outbreak in its history Averting famine The Horn of Africa hunger crisis, where an estimated 223,000 Somalis are projected to experience catastrophic levels of food insecurity in the first six months of 2023, actually prompted the United Nations to establish a role specifically focused on famine prevention. Reena Ghelani pushed U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres to create the position after she visited a Somali hospital filled with starving patients last year. In November, she officially took over the job. Based in the Horn of Africa, she is coordinating a system-wide response to global food insecurity. One of her goals is to mobilize money to respond in communities facing mounting hunger before people start dying, even as she is keeping an eye on the bigger-picture causes — including climate change — that are fueling growing global food shortages. Read: First UN famine coordinator pushes to eradicate starvation (Pro) + Start your 15-day free trial of Devex Pro today to access all our exclusive reporting and analyses. Net positive The humble mosquito net is getting an upgrade. More than 2 billion mosquito nets infused with the insecticide pyrethroid — a critical tool in malaria prevention — have been distributed since 2005. But scientists have become alarmed as mosquitoes in some areas of the world have developed a resistance to the poison. This week, the World Health Organization officially recommended two new forms of nets, each of which combines pyrethroid with an additional chemical to overcome any resistance. A researcher involved in the trials of one new model explains to my colleague Jenny Lei Ravelo that it is “the first time a safe and effective new insecticide for use on nets has been demonstrated for 40 years.” Researchers said the rollout of the new nets could begin within the next two months. Read: WHO recommends new bed nets to fight malaria resistance Poison pen Rwandan President Paul Kagame is not happy with the African Union’s process for selecting a new director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. In a letter this month to AU Chairperson (and Comoran President) Azali Assoumani, Kagame criticizes the manner in which Congolese physician Dr. Jean Kaseya was tapped to lead the pan-African health body following an AU summit in February. Sara gained access to Kagame’s letter, in which he faults the lack of debate over the finalists at the summit, even though three countries submitted requests to speak on the appointment. He also questions why a committee tasked with overseeing the recruitment process failed to explain its decision to elevate Kaseya over a candidate ranked higher on merit, Dr. Magda Robalo, and why deliberations took place without the presence of any head of state besides Assoumani. Kagame’s letter keeps attention focused on the nearly yearlong selection process, which has sometimes appeared to be as much about politics as the candidates’ fitness for the job. An announcement from the DRC president’s office, translated from French, described Kaseya’s appointment as “the epilogue of a long, secret diplomatic battle waged for six months by President Félix Tshisekedi.” Read: Paul Kagame criticizes nontransparent Africa CDC leadership appointment ICYMI: Dr. Jean Kaseya is Africa CDC’s new director general One big number 55 --— That’s the number of countries that may not have the health workforce required to achieve universal health coverage by 2030, according to a new WHO publication. Eight countries have been added to the list since it was first published in 2020, as some nations have struggled to replace health workers lost to international recruitment. On their own As many as 6.5 million South Africans may be experiencing long COVID-19, according to recent research, but health officials there acknowledge they have little understanding of how pervasive the problem is and even less capacity to treat it. There are only two public hospitals that have clinics focused on long COVID-19, and they are both in Cape Town. The private sector is better equipped to help — but only caters to 16% of the population. “People with long COVID are just left to fend for themselves,” one public health specialist tells Devex contributing reporter Paul Adepoju. While policymakers recognize the need to build capacity to treat long COVID-19 and to implement a better system for referring patients experiencing the condition, they also warn that doing so could overburden an already strained healthcare system. Read: Over 6.5 million South Africans could be affected by long COVID Related: The mind-boggling challenge of long COVID What we’re reading Pfizer to buy biotech company Seagen that’s making novel cancer drugs for $43 billion. [The Washington Post] India grapples with an adenovirus outbreak, with more than 12,000 cases recorded since January in the state of West Bengal. [The Guardian] Scientists warn that the U.S. is underprepared for a potential surge in vector-borne disease infections induced by climate change. [STAT] Jenny Lei Ravelo contributed to this edition of Devex CheckUp.