1 week ago

India’s Climate Resilience Depends on Its Health Workforce

Floods can hurt people immediately, but health problems may continue after the water goes away.

Doctors, nurses, laboratory workers, community health workers, and public health officials help prevent these problems.

They treat emergencies, look for disease outbreaks, test water, and support families who need help.

Climate change is making some disasters and health risks harder to manage.

India has started programmes to help health systems prepare for these risks.

However, many health workers are already in short supply, and climate training is often temporary.

The article says climate-related skills should become part of regular health education and jobs.

This would help health workers protect communities before, during, and after disasters.

Key facts

Trigger: Floods in Kerala and Assam have exposed the challenge of protecting health during climate-related disasters.
Health-system role: Hospitals, surveillance teams, laboratories, community health workers, and public health officials support disaster response.
Indian initiatives: The National Programme on Climate Change and Human Health and state counterparts support surveillance, heat action plans, and emergency preparedness.
Existing competencies: Disease surveillance, emergency preparedness, risk communication, outbreak investigation, and community engagement already exist within public health systems.
Training challenge: Climate-health training remains fragmented and is often limited to donor- or project-supported initiatives.
Recommended approach: Climate-health competencies should be integrated into pre-service education, continuing professional development, supervision, planning, and performance management.
Key constraint: India faces substantial shortages of health workers across cadres, making sustained surge capacity difficult.

indianexpress.com · 1 week ago