Stronger health systems in Greater Mekong Subregion help meet the challenges of climate change

Now recognised as one of the world’s leading public health threats, climate change continues to severely impact the health and livelihoods of millions of people across Southeast Asia.

This is especially true in the Greater Mekong Subregion where rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns and extreme weather events are triggering a surge in food- water- and vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue, especially amongst the most vulnerable populations, including women, children, and migrants.  

A recently concluded 6-year technical assistance initiative, financed by the Nordic Development Fund, the Asian Development Bank and the governments of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, has helped public health systems in the region to increase their climate resilience and capacity to respond to climate-induced health threats.

Establishing climate resilient health policy

The project supported the development and adoption of national health adaptation plans in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam that address weather-related health risks, including heat and communicable diseases.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Health Vice-Head, Dr. Do Manh Cuong says the project’s support was crucial to ensuring the National Health Adaptation Plan fully integrated climate change adaptation activities into regular health tasks and related programmes in Vietnam.

“Careful development and implementation of the plans has helped our team recognise and prioritise climate change as an important health issue,” notes Cuong.

Somphone Phengphommy, Technical Officer, Laos Ministry of Health, says, “we now have a very concrete five-year National Health Adaptation Strategy and a clear grasp of the impact of climate change on people’s health and livelihoods.”

Ensuring policy is evidence-based

The initiative supported the completion of vulnerability and adaptation assessments for 14 high-risk provinces spanning each country. These assessments are a critical first step towards helping countries improve their understanding of the linkages between climate change and health.

“Vulnerability and adaptation assessments provide us with an important baseline of information on the magnitude and pattern of prioritised climate-induced health risks and help us strengthen the case for investment in health protection,” explains Cuong.

“Developing the assessments was a new and challenging task for our team, as it was a first for us,” he recalls.

Their work resulted in a robust assessment comprised of 45 national and provincial indicators that will help the country monitor changes in disease risk across population groups.

Dr. Lak Muy Seang, Deputy Director of Preventive Medicine, Ministry of Health, Cambodia says, “with these assessments in place we can now adequately evaluate and prioritise our adaptation options,” and adds “they have not only improved the evidence and our understanding of the link between health and climate change, but are helping us foster collaboration with water and infrastructure sectors to further promote activities that improve population health in a changing climate.”

Building capacity and regional cooperation

In all, the project trained more than 1,300 health sector staff from the three countries on climate change and health adaptation.

“We were able to network with our peers in Cambodia and Vietnam and understand the utility of early warning systems and forecasting to keep each other informed, and better respond to climate-associated health threats,” says Phengphommy.

Over 1,500 government staff participated in national and regional workshops on health adaptation strategies and more than 600 policy makers from the public and private sector participated in high-level health adaptation advocacy workshops.

“We learned so much from our colleagues in the region and managed to create a collaborative platform that helps us maintain communication on everything related to climate change and health,” says Cuong. Seang adds, “understanding the management approaches to climate change of our colleagues in Vietnam and Laos has been invaluable.“

Importantly, the project’s trainings and high-level advocacy has helped keep the health impacts of climate change under the spotlight, as one of the biggest public health threats facing the region.

Photo credit: ADB