Climate change and health unit being set up

The Ministry of Health and Wellness is establishing a national climate change and health focal point unit.

Minister Ian Gooding-Edghill made the announcement on Tuesday while delivering remarks at the 30th Pan American Sanitary Conference in Washington on the topic, Leveraging Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic to address the Region’s Mental Health Challenges for the Future.

He indicated that one of the unit’s first tasks will be to develop and implement a framework for comprehensive vulnerability assessment.

Noting that Barbados has been fortunate to benefit from several Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) train-the-trainer workshops that addressed mental health in the immediate and long-term aftermath of a natural disaster, Gooding-Edghill said similar activities can be extended to all first responders in the post-disaster period.

He, therefore, encouraged PAHO to continue to offer the training and awareness programme to the Barbados Defence Force, Barbados Police Service, and public health service providers.

“As Barbados develops a National Mental Health Policy and Action Plan, I would strongly support the broader use of mental health and psychological training in climate and disaster management.

“There is also a need for collaboration with PAHO and other agencies such as the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre at the University of the West Indies, on their research agenda. The more we understand about the current and expected impacts and the measures that we can take . . . we will be able to make more informed decisions,” Gooding-Edghill said.

The Health Minister proposed that each country provide a safe space for communities and individuals to assemble and talk about how climate change and health affect their lives.

He said such a programme would provide an opportunity for communities to take action through small steps, by engaging public health and environmental leadership.

“This can also be initially achieved by personal efforts to reduce the carbon footprint and advocating governments to achieve more evidence-based results. An example of such is the beach clean-up activities sponsored by many like-minded non-governmental health organisations, which have the benefits of increased physical activity and exercise while contributing to cleaner, greener, and safer environments,” he said.

Gooding-Edghill reminded that in September 2019, Prime Minister Mia Mottley made it clear to the United Nations that beyond the science and evidence the impact of natural disasters is real, threatening the physical and mental health of people who have been directly affected.

He insisted that if countries do not act swiftly and appropriately, everyone will eventually be impacted, with the most vulnerable, children, the elderly, the sick, and the poor being most severely affected.

“We live in very uncertain times but we are aware climate change is real, not only affecting our fragile agro-based and tourism-based economies of the region but affecting individuals, their families, and communities on a very personal level. Every hurricane season for the last ten years was active or more active than the previous years. Heat waves are becoming more common and flash floods and droughts are very commonplace,” Minister Gooding-Edghill pointed out. (AH)