Experts at CAPRI forum in Taipei discuss health security as part of climate policy

CAPRI（亞堅會）國際論壇的專家在臺北討論將衛生安全作為氣候政策的一部份

Panelists at CAPRI forum discuss interrelated issues of global health security, climate change


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Healthcare and public and environmental policy experts discussed how climate change can affect health security at the inaugural annual forum of the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation (CAPRI), held at the Sheraton Hotel in Taipei on Monday (May 29).

The theme of CAPRI’s inaugural forum was “A Resilient Phoenix: Rising from the Pandemic,” which featured experts across interrelated fields to discuss the state of the Asia-Pacific and current challenges facing the region in the post-pandemic era.

During the fourth session of the forum, a panel of four speakers was convened under the title “Addressing Environmental Challenges to Unlock Health Security.” The shared consensus of the panel was that health policy needs to occupy a greater share in the global discussion of climate policy, and countries should give greater consideration to the interrelationship between climate change and health security.

The panel began with remarks from David Heymann, an epidemiologist and former executive director of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Communicable Diseases Cluster. Heymann introduced the WHO’s “One Health Framework,” which seeks to create a global network that will integrate actors across multiple sectors from the local to the national to the international level.

Heymann said that to mitigate the risks of future infectious diseases, policy makers, scientists, and healthcare professionals must consider the interrelationship among the environment, plants and wildlife, and human health. These three areas can affect each other in a wide variety of ways, often with unpredictable outcomes.

According to Heymann, it is necessary for governments, both local and national, to help facilitate a much greater degree of communication to understand the wide array of potential risks that may lead to, or exacerbate negative effects of, an infectious disease outbreak.

The second speaker was Tsai Feng-jen (蔡奉真), a professor at Taipei Medical University specializing in global health security. Tsai used Taiwan’s recent experience to emphasize how climate conditions have had an observable impact on human health.

According to Tsai, in recent years, Taiwan has experienced long periods of drought and short periods of intense rainfall. While the annual rainfall has not changed significantly, Taiwan has been experiencing longer stretches of drought and higher risks of flooding as a result of more rainfall being concentrated over fewer days.

Such weather conditions have led to an increase in heatstroke and cardiovascular-related diseases. Climate changes have also resulted in a wider range for the spread of dengue fever, with the number of cases being reported in northern Taiwan showing a steady increase, said Tsai.

The third speaker was Collin Tukuitonga from the University of Auckland, who discussed the struggles faced by Pacific Island countries dealing with climate change.

While sea level rises attract plenty of media attention, Tukuitonga noted that, for the most part, sea level rises are manageable. A more dire issue is ocean warming and acidification, as this affects coral reefs and diminishes local fisheries. Increasing numbers of typhoons and tropical storms also impede agricultural output throughout the region.

He noted that Pacific Islands countries combined produce less than 0.3% of global carbon emissions, but due to geography, they are facing the brunt of the climate crisis. “We are all in this together, but some people are much more exposed than others,” he said. Tukuitonga added that “the climate crisis is a moral, ethical problem” and “an issue of social justice,” which large economies of the world are obligated to address.

The last speaker of the panel was Swee Kheng Khor (許瑞慶), the CEO of Angsana Health in Malaysia. Swee provided insight from a public policy perspective on how countries or local governments might address the twin issues of health security and climate change.

Swee noted that the internal structure of government can be a huge hurdle to establishing mechanisms that will meaningfully address challenges, as various departments and agencies must all compete for funding. Swee believes that the answer is more integration between agencies and shared funding for projects with overlapping areas of responsibility.

Although difficult, this approach will encourage greater cooperation and communication between stakeholders as countries strive to address the many challenges presented by climate change. Swee also advocated for the “decarbonization of healthcare” to reduce medical waste and overconsumption of healthcare resources, while also suggesting that in the future, many health services might be removed from hospital and clinic settings.

In closing remarks, the panelists discussed various measures or mechanisms that might be adopted for monitoring the impact of climate-related issues on public health. Panelists agreed that a crucial first step towards global health security is for the topic to be further integrated into discussions on climate change.

The full panel session on "Addressing Environmental Challenges to Unlock Health Security" can be viewed below.