Nine Caribbean countries are integrating health into national adaptation plans

Initiated at the 2010 UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP) meeting in Mexico, countries acknowledged that national adaptation planning is an important process by which developing countries can assess their vulnerabilities, risks, and adaptation options. Since then, the World Health Organization (WHO) created guidance to specifically protect health from climate change through the development of Health National Adaptation
Plans (H-NAPs). These plans consider the impact of climate on people’s mental and physical health, as well as the social effects.
The goal is to strengthen health systems and protect our well-being from climate variability and change. The European Union-funded CARIFORUM Project operates with this aim and supports 16 CARIFORUM countries in preparing health chapters in their National Adaptation Plans for climate change.
This initiative featured training for developing comprehensive health chapters in the NAPs (or equivalent documents) in December 2020. Since then, six countries, Belize, Saint Lucia, Bahamas, Grenada, Haiti, and Jamaica have become actively engaged. Barbados, Guyana and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines are expected to commence shortly. Further capacity building is also planned in the development of drafting concept notes for funding, facilitated by the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre.