International authorities and humanitarian organizations collaborate to boost climate change resilience in the healthcare sector within Laos.
The Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) is taking significant steps to develop climate-resilient health facilities and strengthen its health system's resilience to climate change.
The project, titled "Strengthening Climate Resilience of the Lao PDR Health System," is a collaborative effort between the Lao PDR Ministry of Health, Save the Children International in Laos (SCiL), Health Care Without Harm Southeast Asia (HCWH SEA), and the World Health Organization. This five-year initiative aims to create a sustainable, climate-resilient healthcare system across the country.
The project will focus on seven provinces most vulnerable to climate impacts, ensuring that health services continue during and after climate-related events such as natural hazards like extreme heat, floods, droughts, and typhoons.
HCWH SEA will lead the implementation of a nationwide assessment of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across 79 public healthcare facilities identified as vulnerable to climate risks. The collected data will be used to build the capacity of healthcare personnel on climate and health, and to develop a system to support facilities in updating their carbon footprint assessments and developing mitigation strategies.
The project is a critical component of a broader Green Climate Fund-supported initiative to enhance the climate resilience of Lao PDR's health system. It is also supported by the Asian Development Bank through projects such as the Building Resilience and Reducing Rural Poverty Project, which focuses on improving food utilization, nutrition, women’s empowerment, and climate resilience among poor and vulnerable households, indirectly contributing to health system resilience by addressing broader determinants of health.
In addition to infrastructure resilience, the project also emphasizes multisectoral partnership and addressing the social determinants of health related to climate change impacts. The project will engage in projects that enhance food security and nutrition, strengthen agricultural value chains, support rural communities, and improve nutrition-centered food systems vulnerable to climate change.
The inception meeting brought together representatives from the Ministry of Health, development partners, and technical experts to align on project goals and foster collaboration throughout the project's implementation phase. The project is published by EB Publishing and is related to topics such as Cities, Policy & Finance, Climate, Healthcare, Resilience, Climate Risk, Extreme Weather, and Natural Disasters.
This comprehensive approach to climate resilience in Lao PDR's health system underscores the government's commitment to ensuring that health facilities remain operational during and after climate-related events, thereby safeguarding the health of its people.
- The project in Lao PDR aims to build healthcare personnel's capacity on climate and health, using data from a nationwide assessment of carbon emissions from vulnerable healthcare facilities, thereby contributing to the science of climate change and medical-conditions.
- The environmental-science aspect of the project extends beyond infrastructure resilience, engaging in initiatives to improve food security and nutrition, and strengthening agricultural value chains, all key factors that influence health-and-wellness and climate change.
- As part of a broader initiative supported by the Green Climate Fund and other development agencies, the project in Lao PDR focuses on climate change resilience, demonstrating the government's commitment to managing and mitigating carbon emissions, while protecting the health and well-being of its citizens in the face of extreme weather, natural disasters, and other climate-related events.
