Within the Health, Climate, and Security Nexus, Prevention is Better than a Cure

Jun 29, 2022 | Kelly Bridges
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Droughts are not the only climate-related disaster that affect WASH and health service delivery.  In addition to being one of the hottest years on record, 2022 is also expected to be an above-average hurricane season, posing a threat to WASH infrastructure in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean and to global health security everywhere. The most recent data from 2021 show that a staggering 80% of healthcare facilities in the West African country are without basic water services and less than 1% of its population has piped water at home. Globally, a quarter of all healthcare facilities are without basic water services and in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), which includes Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo–the latest country to fight an Ebola outbreak–this number grows to half of all healthcare facilities.

Moreover, as the current COVID-19 pandemic has shown, global health insecurity can contribute to increasing fragility in countries, as outbreaks can easily deteriorate already fraught political and socio-economic conditions.

The U.S. Government is uniquely positioned to provide thought leadership and meaningful, concrete action on the nexus of climate change, WASH, global health security, and conflict, which has largely been unexplored. In April 2022, the government launched its USAID Climate Strategy and began implementation of its U.S. Strategy to Prevent Conflict and Promote Stability. It is also in the process of finalizing the next iteration of the whole-of-U.S. Government Global Water Strategy and, just recently on June 1, Vice President Kamala Harris announced a historic White House Action Plan on Global Water Security.