Christopher Tufton | Tackling the other silent killer

MANY OF us may be familiar with non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes and hypertension, as silent killers. But there is another silent killer, one to which we must give all due attention: heat.

To help us on our way, we have an instructive report, recently published by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which lends insight into the scale of the heat problem, given prevailing climate-change realities – and with a focus on the workforce.

According to data from that 2024 report titled ‘Heat at Work: Implications for Safety and Health – A Global Review of the Science, Policy and Practice’, some 2.41 billion workers, or more than 70 per cent of the working population, are exposed to excessive heat, resulting in 22.85 million non-fatal injuries and 18,970 deaths annually.

Among the regions with the highest proportion of occupational injuries attributable to excessive heat is Africa, with 7.2 per cent of all occupational injuries and our region, the Americas, with 6.7 per cent. Of note is that the Americas head the regions with the most rapidly increasing heat-related occupational injuries since 2000, with a 33.3 per cent increase.

It means, therefore, that we must give attention to heat and the implications for public health, particularly as temperatures continue to soar, fired by the human consumption of fossil fuels, which fuel the warming of the planet and trigger other impacts, putting public health in jeopardy.

TAKING A CUE

As a Ministry of Health and Wellness, we have been taking our cue from the science about climate and its impacts, which are a clear and present danger.

The ministry has, therefore, been working collaboratively and with greater fervency to advance preparedness and response efforts that ensure built-in resilience in the health system in order to blunt the impacts of excessive heat and other manifestations of climate change such as extreme hurricanes.

Our partners include the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development, together with other ministries, departments, and agencies of government that are represented on the National Disaster Risk Management Council.

These stakeholders include the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology; and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration among others.

Together, we are taking a deeper dive into interventions that can best serve the public-health interest, including the pursuit of a Heat Health Early Warning System for the Caribbean.

That we are in need of this service is impatient of debate. The 6th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) tells us of the observed impacts on health that include the intensification of hot extremes due to climate change as well as increased disease susceptibility in countries like our own.

It has noted, too, the projected risks, including increased climate change-attributable deaths from heat and, therefore, recommended adaptation options that include Heat Health Action Plans, with early warning and response systems based on targeted climate services.

The report goes further to highlight that the health system provides a solution space for addressing this issue through development pathways for attaining climate-resilient health systems.

That we are pursuing the Heat Health Early Warning System – which is anticipated to yield, among other things, a heat plan – is evidence of the Government of Jamaica’s commitment to putting our health system to best use as just such a solution space, and it has never been more important than right now to do so.

MENTAL HEALTH

It is also important that we recognise that in addition to people’s physical health, also at stake is their mental health. In a June 2022 policy brief on the subject of mental health and climate change, the World Health Organisation tells us that the reality of “stronger and longer-lasting” impacts will “directly and indirectly affect [people’s] mental health and psychosocial well-being”. The recent ILO report also alludes to the mental-health challenges associated with heat.

The good news is that we have - and continue to be - engaged in scaled-up efforts to tackle this problem of climate change, efforts that provide for us a firm foundation on which to elaborate the Heat Health Early Warning System that is being implemented with the support of the United States President’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience.

Jamaica, I believe, is well placed to yield good results from this initiative given the good work that has been done in recent times. We, in fact, have the building blocks for success with this project, in line with the WHO Operational Framework for Building Climate Resilient Health Systems – from climate transformative leadership and governance to assessments of climate and health risks and greenhouse gas emissions as well as climate-resilient and low-carbon infrastructure and technologies.

There is also the recent EU Cariforum project, ‘Strengthening Climate Resilient Health Systems in the Caribbean’, from which Jamaica has benefitted directly through the development of the Health National Adaptation Plan; structured training of climate and health leaders in the fellowship programme; and application of the software tool for health-risk assessment of air pollution, AirQ+, towards an action plan for systematically harnessing health co-benefits of climate action.

The ministry, through the Projects Unit and the Emergency Disaster Management and Special Services Division, by consultancy, is developing an operational Climate-Smart Policy for the public-health system based on the Smart Model Policy. It includes a monitoring and evaluation framework for climate action towards resiliency, sustainability, and environmental friendliness.

Among other things, Jamaica has also benefitted from support under the Smart Health Care Facilities in the Caribbean Project and the Improving Climate Data and Information Management Project. From that project, health facilities benefited from retrofitting that realised increased operational efficiency that should lead to a reduction in fossil fuel consumption; installation of renewable energy sources; improved safety index against severe weather events; and greater capacity to ensure maintenance of water supply during drought seasons.

We look forward to advancing activities for the establishment of Heat Health Early Warning System for the Caribbean to complement and enhance current efforts.

Climate change, is, however, a long game, and players must continue to move with urgency, in a coordinated way, in order to realise successful outcomes. Importantly, those players include not only policymakers, but also the people of Jamaica, who are themselves able to take individual actions in support of national and regional efforts. I encourage our people to be aware of and to take the necessary precautions against the threat that heat as a silent killer poses.

Dr Christopher Tufton is Jamaica’s minister of health and wellness and member of parliament for St Catherine West Central. Send feedback to cctufton@gmail.com or columns@gleanerjm.com.