For far too long, the critical issue of the gender health care gap has been sidelined in global climate discussions. COP29, this year’s United Nations climate summit, offers a pivotal opportunity to rectify this oversight by prioritizing women’s health in climate action and enhancing global resilience.
The gender health gap already means millions of women are unable to access the health care, treatment, and support they need. Across Africa, this is accentuated by the lack of health care infrastructure and high disease burden. In addition, the effects of climate change and the alarmingly wide disparity in health care are becoming increasingly challenging to address.
Women are disproportionately affected by diseases such as malaria, waterborne infections, and respiratory illnesses. In 2022 alone, across 33 countries in the World Health Organization African region with moderate to high malaria transmission rates, 36% of pregnancies were exposed to malaria infection. This contributes to underweight births, increased susceptibility to malaria among infants, and increased risk of neonatal death. Around 94% of malaria cases globally in 2022 were in the WHO African region.