ICS Estudos e Relatórios Nº1 / 2019

ICS E S T U D O S e R E L A T Ó R I O S 2019 ● The direct damage costs to health (i.e., excluding costs in health-determining sectors such as agriculture and water and sanitation), is estimated to be between 2-4 billion US$ / year by 2030. ● Areas with weak health infrastructure, especially in developing countries, will be the least able to cope without assistance to prepare and respond. ● Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases through better transport, food, and energy-use choices can result in improved health, mainly through reduced air pollution. International climate change-health policies Health is a critical element of the UNFCCC legal framework (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), and the right to health is a fundamental human right in the preamble of the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement was framed as "the strongest health agreement of the century" by WHO (2018). It specifies that, when taking action to address climate change, parties should respect, promote, and consider their respective obligations on the right to health. Besides, the Paris Agreement recognizes the central role of mitigation actions and their co-benefits for adaptation, health, and sustainable development in enhanced response before 2020 (UNFCCC, 2015). The Paris Agreement also prompted health to be connected to and defined in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for both mitigation and adaptation. In its COP24 Special Report on Health and Climate Change (2018), the WHO further identified valuable policy opportunities for improving health through mitigation and adaptation. Policymakers could achieve potential health gains from mitigation activities across sectors, e.g., energy supply and electricity production, households and buildings, transport as well as agriculture and food systems. Policymakers could also seize opportunities in climate adaptation for urban health by building the capacity in these three areas: a) Improve the software - e.g., using climate services to strengthen health information systems b) Improve the hardware - green climate-resilient health care facilities, and c) Conduct better governance and stronger leadership.