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More than 40 countries have pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their healthcare systems, representing the largest global effort to date to try to reduce the contributions of the world’s hospitals and healthcare industry to global warming, World Health Organization officials said late Monday.
“This announcement is huge,” said Josh Karliner, director of international programs and strategy at Health Care Without Harm, a nonprofit that works to reduce the environmental impact of the healthcare industry. It was designed to put the industry on a path towards “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions, and “what this implies is that the way healthcare is delivered will fundamentally be transformed,” he said.
Governments of 42 countries have said they will reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas warming the world, in their healthcare systems. Twelve countries have pledged to achieve net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.
Words came from high-income countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, as well as a few low- and middle-income countries, such as the Bahamas, Fiji, and Africa, which are already most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Maldives.
health sector make up almost five percent If global carbon dioxide emissions were a country, it would be the fifth largest emitter.
Most of the commitments represent initial commitments that need to be backed up with more specific details about how the goals can be achieved.
At this week’s global climate summit in Glasgow, public health took a higher profile more than any previous United Nations climate conference. For the first time, there is a dedicated health pavilion and a series of panels, talks and conferences that outline the health effects of climate change.
It included the emotional satisfaction of mothers of children suffering from air pollution, including Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, who spoke with conference chair Alok Sharma on Friday and whose daughter’s death from asthma has been attributed to air pollution. There were also presentations of new technologies, including the introduction of a zero-emission ambulance.
There is already a large body of research showing that it is. Climate change contributes to a wide range of health risks worldwide. It exacerbates heatwaves, intensifies wildfires, increases flood risks and worsens droughts. These are increased heat-related mortality, pregnancy complications, and cardiovascular diseases, respectively. And as with so many climate-related things, the risks and harms are particularly acute where they can interfere the least.
The United States, which accounts for more than a quarter of healthcare carbon dioxide emissions globally, has joined the commitment to clean up the healthcare sector. Admiral Rachel Levine, deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said the government will reduce emissions and provide incentives, guidance in federal healthcare facilities, which may include those operated by the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs. and assistance to privately run healthcare facilities to make similar discounts.
Nineteen private healthcare systems in the United States have committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.
The Biden Administration said that by 2030, the United States will aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions economy-wide by 50 to 52 percent from 2005 levels. Healthcare accounts for 8.5 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The Federal Department of Health and Human Services said it plans to provide more details in a statement Tuesday morning in Glasgow.
Meeting these commitments will require countries to significantly reorganize their health sectors.
For high-income countries, this will include making the healthcare sector more energy efficient and less wasteful, but will also likely require the transformation of overall energy grids to provide clean energy. For low- and middle-income countries whose populations do not have regular access to healthcare or where healthcare facilities do not have reliable energy, it will require building new and greener facilities while expanding healthcare. coverage.
In a closed meeting on Monday, international funders including USAID, the World Bank and the Green Climate Fund held a preliminary discussion on how to support commitments made by low- and middle-income countries.
“Amid the pandemic, we had to recover from extreme weather events and manage the resulting health effects,” Ifereimi Waqainabete, Fijian Health and Medical Services Minister, said in a statement. “It showed us that healthcare systems and facilities are the main line of defense in protecting populations from emerging threats.”
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