Author: World Health Organization

Publisher:

Published: 2015-12-15

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789241564953

"Climate variability and change are exacerbating many current climate-sensitive health outcomes and have the potential to affect the ability of health system institutions and organizations to maintain or improve health burdens in the context of changing climate and development patterns. Advancing management of these risks requires systems-based and holistic approaches to adaptation. Research and practice that crosses disciplinary boundaries are vital for supporting evidence-based policies and programmes to effectively and efficiently address the health risks of climate variability and change in the context of multistressor environments. Goals and activities. The goals of this report are to: identify lessons learned and good practice examples from pilot health adaptation projects; discuss the potential for scaling up; and identify key barriers and challenges to scaling up successful interventions. Two activities were undertaken to achieve these goals: a desk review and synthesis of the first five years of implementation (2008-2013) of multinational health adaptation projects in low- and middle-income countries worldwide; and qualitative data collection through targeted interviews and focus group discussions to identify barriers, challenges and opportunities for implementation and scaling up of adaptation interventions. The report will be incorporated into a global operational framework developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) for climate change adaptation in the health sector. The desk review included evaluation reports and other materials from three multicountry projects covering 14 countries. Qualitative data were collected through a focus group consultation and 19 key informant interviews to document lessons learned and good practice examples from health adaptation projects to facilitate assessing and overcoming barriers to implementation and to scaling up. The countries included are Barbados, Bhutan, China, Fiji, Jordan, Kenya and Uzbekistan (in the UNDP/WHO GEF-funded project "Piloting climate change adaptation to protect human health"); China, Jordan and the Philippines (in the health components of the Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund); and Albania, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Uzbekistan (in the WHO Regional Office for Europe project 'Protecting health from climate change: a Executive summary 3 seven-country initiative' funded by the International Climate Initiative of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety). Based on expert judgment, the review evaluated the available documents for evidence and examples of attaining objectives and planned results of interventions; sustainability; stakeholder participation and community engagement; country ownership and sociopolitical constraints; human resources and capabilities; replicability and scalability; and indicators for monitoring and evaluation. The report also presents findings of a data collection activity from a focus group consultation and 19 key informants purposively selected for their expertise and role in health adaptation to climate change. The activity was intended to document lessons learned and good practice examples from pilot health adaptation projects in order to facilitate assessing and overcoming barriers to implementation and to scaling up."--Pages 2-3