Castilla-La Mancha Health Department establishes a working group on the impact of climate change on health and the health system.
Climate change amplifies many health problems, with the poorest segments of societies as the most vulnerable.
One of the future challenges is how to adapt health care and health infrastructures to the different social impacts caused by climate change.
Toledo, February 25, 2018.- The Department of Health of Castilla-La Mancha autonomous region has created a working group on the impact of climate change on health and the health system.
The objective of this initiative is to raise awareness about the increasingly incidence of climate change on the health of people but also on the health systems themselves, together with the need to give a coordinated response to these challenges.
In this first meeting of this working group, officials of the Climate Change Office of the Government of Castilla-La Mancha reported about future climate trends in the region and also on how in the last thirty years the average temperature in our region has increased, together with the declining of rainfall.
Considering this initial presentation, discussions aimed to address the different impacts that climate change can have on the health of people, with a special emphasis on the analysis of the circumstances of most vulnerable people, but also considering the impact on health systems and health infrastructures.
With the aim of deepening on this knowledge, the creation of four working groups were considered, in order to address different but interconnected issues, namely: the impact of climate change on health; the adaptation of health care and systems to climate change; the importance of infrastructures both in relation to sustainability actions, but also in order to plan their future adaptation to climate impacts; and finally, the policies and actions regarding information, communication and training.
These working groups comprises experts and officials of the Department of Health and Castilla-La Mancha's Health Care services (SESCAM), together with other officials and professionals within the Regional Government of Castilla-La Mancha, academic institutions such as the University of Castilla-La Mancha or other institutions and organizations that could provide expertise and experience in this area.
The conclusions of each working group will be reflected in an Action Plan on Climate Change and Health, which will identify the challenges in each area, identify and integrate the actions done so far from the Department of Health and SESCAM, in addition to provide a basis for the expansion and future development of other policies and actions in this area.
This first meeting was attended by officials of the Department of Health and SESCAM, professionals from the Hospitals of Alcázar de San Juan, Talavera de la Reina and Manzanares, officials of the Climate Change Office of the Government of Castilla-La Mancha, as well as the coordinator of the sustainability area of Fundación Alternativas.