Climate change to drive health crisis: G20 ministers

The two-day G20 Health Ministers’ meeting in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar ended on Saturday with the adoption of an outcome document that recognises the lasting impact of climate change on health and calls for climate-resilient health systems.

Ahead of the adoption of the document, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya described climate change as the top danger to humanity even as extreme weather events continued to wreak havoc in northern states.

“Climate change will continue to drive health emergencies, including through the emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases and by increasing the severity and frequency of natural disasters, thereby threatening to overwhelm health systems’ ability to deliver essential health services.

We commit to prioritising climate-resilient health systems’ development, building sustainable and low-carbon/low greenhouse gas (GHG) emission health systems and healthcare supply chains that deliver high-quality healthcare, mobilise resources for resilient, low-carbon sustainable health systems and facilitate collaboration,” the G20 Health Ministers’ outcome document says.

Besides committing to tackling AMR (antimicrobial resistance) comprehensively following the One Health approach, the Health Ministers also arrived at a consensus to build more resilient, equitable, sustainable and inclusive health systems equipped to address ongoing global health challenges.