HCWH-Asia panel at the Forum 2015 (L-R): Merci Ferrer, Director; Dr. Renzo Guinto, Campaigner, Healthy Energy Initiative; Dr. Jorge Emmanuel, former consultant, UN Development Programme; Dr. Erlidia Llamas-Clark, Clinical Associate Professor, University of the Philippines Manila-Philippine General Hospital; and Dr. Chin Lon Lin, Chief Executive Officer, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Taiwan

“The health sector can play a leadership role in addressing climate change,” said Merci Ferrer, Health Care Without Harm (HCWH)-Asia’s director, who moderated the session entitled “Addressing the climate-energy-health nexus in megacities: Innovations from the health sector and beyond” at the Global Forum on Research and Innovation for Health (Forum 2015), held at the Philippine International Convention Center last August 24-27, 2015.

Organized by HCWH-Asia, this successful and well-attended session showcased some of the latest research findings and innovative approaches done by HCWH and its partners in climate mitigation and adaptation especially in megacities.

The panel started with Dr. Renzo Guinto, Campaigner of HCWH-Asia’s Healthy Energy Initiative, who laid down a comprehensive framework capturing research and innovation opportunities in the intersection of climate change, energy, and public health. He also emphasized the need for the health sector to look upstream and consider the social and environmental determinants of health in health care.

“What good does it do to treat people’s illnesses, only to send them back to the conditions that made them sick?” asked Dr. Guinto. “What we need is a C.H.E.A.P. solution – Climate, Health, and Equity in All Policies!”

He was followed by Dr. Jorge Emmanuel, former consultant of the UN Development Programme and HCWH-Asia, who talked about his personal experience in addressing the management of medical waste in Ebola-affected countries in West Africa. He started by discussing the potential pathways by which climate change and the Ebola crisis are linked, and presented the innovative strategies that he employed to promote non-burn technologies to avoid incineration of waste.

“The Ebola outbreak shows that climate is linked to emerging infectious diseases but that linkage is complicated and is affected by socioeconomic, political, cultural, ecological and other factors which are not mutually exclusive” said Dr. Emmanuel. “The use of innovative technologies can mitigate impacts and are also part of strategies to make communities and the health sector more resilient.”

Dr. Erlidia Llamas-Clark, Clinical Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of the Philippines Manila-Philippine General Hospital who also did her PhD at the Australian National University, shared about her doctoral dissertation that examined climate adaptation particularly in the context of child health and nutrition challenges. In her study, Dr. Clark noted that extreme weather events such as typhoons and floods bring about a cascade of events that lead to child malnutrition, and therefore nutrition and health should be part of community disaster risk reduction. 

Dr. Chin Lon Lin gave an entertaining yet enlightening presentation about Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation’s health-promoting and green hospitals 

The last speaker was Dr. Chin Lon Lin, Chief Executive Officer of the Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation based in Taiwan. He gave an enthralling and educational presentation about best practices in healthcare sustainability among Tzu Chi’s network of hospitals – from using solar panels and adopting green building design, to recycling of materials and producing food locally for patients and staff – all of which are aligned with HCWH’s Global Green and Healthy Hospitals 10-point agenda.

“The World Health Organization defined health as ‘the state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, rather than solely as absence of disease.’ Our hospitals should be upholding this mantra, not just treating illness but promoting the holistic health of people and planet,” stated Dr. Lin.

“We hope that through the session, HCWH-Asia was able to convince health researchers and innovators to give attention to the links between climate change, energy, and health. There are many questions still unanswered within this intersection, making it an exciting new arena for discovery and action,” expressed Ms. Ferrer.

Organized by the Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED) in partnership with the Philippine Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and Department of Health (DOH), Forum 2015 was attended by nearly 4,000 delegates from more than 70 countries.