CARICOM Endorses New Climate Health Plan
Caribbean health ministers have endorsed a comprehensive regional action plan to strengthen healthcare systems against climate change and natural disasters. Developed alongside PAHO and WHO, the framework focuses on building resilient infrastructure, expanding disease surveillance, and securing international climate financing.
Ministers of Health across the Caribbean Community have formally endorsed a new regional Action Plan on Health and Climate Change during the 53rd Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development in Washington, D.C. Developed through extensive consultations led by the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization, the framework sets out regional priorities to protect public health systems from worsening environmental hazards.
Across the Caribbean, Small Island Developing States and territories face acute vulnerabilities to extreme weather events, including major hurricanes, prolonged droughts, extreme heat, and shifting patterns of vector-borne diseases such as dengue fever. Severe storms in recent years have highlighted the urgent need to protect healthcare infrastructure, as damaged hospitals and clinics frequently disrupt critical medical services when communities need them most.
The newly approved strategy is organized around four core pillars: Governance and leadership to embed public health priorities into regional and national climate policies. Climate-resilient health systems to strengthen early warning mechanisms, disease monitoring, infrastructure, and staff training.
Low-carbon health systems to reduce the sector's environmental footprint through renewable energy and sustainable waste management. Resources and financing to mobilize regional and international climate funding, including access to the Green Climate Fund and Adaptation Fund. Daniel Buss, Chief of PAHO's Climate Change and Environmental Determinants of Health Unit, highlighted that the updated plan emphasizes building institutional resilience and ensuring Caribbean nations possess the resources required to protect populations most vulnerable to environmental shocks.
The framework builds on progress achieved under the earlier 2019 to 2023 regional initiative, which saw more than 2,500 healthcare professionals trained across 15 countries and multiple medical facilities upgraded to PAHO's SMART safe and green standards. Implementation of the updated strategy will be led at the national level with technical support from PAHO and WHO, bolstering long-term health resilience across the wider Caribbean.
Primary source: BVI Disaster Management