CHCC: Building resilience against climate change

To build resilience against climate change, or BRACE, the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. is collaborating with stakeholders to engage with the community on prevention and emergency preparedness for climate-related health threats.

 CHCC chief executive officer Esther Muña said that BRACE will enhance the strategies and policy priorities for state and local public health and related partnerships.

“By building capacity with the Office of the Governor Climate Change Initiative, Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality, Bureau of Environmental Health, Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Public Health Programs, the Insular Area Health Agencies will assist in reducing climate-related morbidity and mortality. It will help our community fully identify and assess climate-related health threats and will increase communication and information sharing among insular areas, the federal government, and other state/local governments and partnerships,” she said.

Muña noted that combating the effects of climate change has become a growing concern within both the local and global community, with the Commonwealth and other Pacific Islands most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate changes and isolation.

Gov. Ralph DLG Torres added that environmental changes affect the CNMI’s unique environmental resources and infrastructure, which includes critical centers such as the island’s hospital.

“Proactive efforts to protect our environment and resources is key to ensuring that we can adapt to current and future changes, and prepare solutions to possible threats. With the establishment of the CNMI resilience working group and CHCC’s initiative to combat the effects of climate change, we can collectively prepare with available resources and the key stakeholders to really make progress,” Torres said.

CNMI Climate Change coordinator Richard Salas noted the deeply intertwined relationship between a changing climate and human health.

“Increased intensity of existing health risks is highly likely and new public health challenges could arise through other pathways. The CNMI lies in a tropical zone, which may experience increasingly favorable ambient conditions for mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever, as well as several food- and water-borne diseases. Contributing factors to the spread of these disorders, such as poor waste management practices, inadequate infrastructure, and uninformed public health practices, should be controlled and corrected as soon as possible to minimize the risk of transmission,” he said.

Territorial epidemiologist Dr. Paul White added that health encompasses environmental, animal, and human health, adding that a “one-health approach” must be considered.

“There is much debate as to the cause of climate change, but change is occurring and all these factors connect with one another,” he said.

In building capacity, it was shared that the effects of climate change can also affect people’s mental health.

Salas said that when it comes to adaptation planning and public health, it is important to prioritize the most vulnerable populations in the CNMI.

“Communities across the CNMI may be subjected to similar environmental changes and conditions, but the lasting effects will vary depending on a number of socio-economic factors. This was evident after Typhoon Soudelor, as recovery efforts in certain villages took much longer than in others and some losses have yet to be reconciled. This layer of complexity must be considered in adaptation planning for the CNMI,” he said.

According to Muña, improving community resilience in terms of healthcare is an intensive planning process.

“Adaptive management practices, stewardship, and community education and involvement is needed to address our healthcare needs and the health of our community. This would require collaboration across multi-sectors of government and members of the community, therefore it is a community based-approach coupled with effective management and policy that can lead to successful adaptation planning for the CNMI.”