ABSTRACT
Climate change is a looming threat that risks unravelling decades of development in human health. In the last ten years, incidents of heat stress, water scarcity, malnutrition, flooding, outbreak of vector and water-borne diseases have become more frequent. These extreme climate events can be particularly harsh on low- and middle-income countries, and especially their healthcare systems which are at the forefront of defence. At the same time, the health sector paradoxically has been contributing to its own burden through its climate emissions, which makes up 4.4% of the global total. The health sector generates greenhouse gases (GHG) through energy and water use, building construction and retrofit, manufacture, supply and disposal of medical and pharmaceutical products, waste generation and disposal. In order to strengthen its defence, the healthcare community’s mitigation strategies need to be climate-smart going forward. This chapter presents how the healthcare sector consumes and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, and addresses how to mitigate this impact by adopting low-carbon strategies, while also building resilience to climate impacts in a way that supports environmental change in the long run. These strategies are presented alongside successful case studies. These ‘climate-smart healthcare’ strategies will address the emerging needs of healthcare and its associated communities.
