AU health ministers highlight concerns over climate change's impact on health at CAMH5

Apr 26 2011

African health ministers last week discussed their concerns about the health implications of climate change during the fifth African Union Conference of Ministers of Health (CAMH5) in Windhoek, Namibia, PANA/Afrique en ligne reports. The conference, which focused on climate change, ended on Friday.  

The ministers "called for a climate change strategy to tackle the rising medical costs associated with malaria and an increase in infant deaths as a result of other environmentally inflicted diseases. ... They said the cost of climate change was more severe than previously thought," the news service writes.

Namibian Prime Minister Nahas Angula "told the ministers his country was currently working out a plan for cross-border cooperation with Angola in the control of malaria ... Angula urged the ministers to ensure that Africa's health systems were based on a comprehensive primary health care approach that supports and strengthens community capacities to better manage their health," according to PANA/Afrique en ligne. Angula called for collective action to address challenges posed by climate change (4/24).

Ahead of the meeting, Olawale Maiyegun, the African Union Commission director of social affairs, "said that the African continent is under pressure from climate stresses and is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change," the Namibian/allAfrica.com reports (Smit, 4/19).