2025-03-19 09:10:33
Responding to Climate Change: Perspectives and Strategies for the Health Sector
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Course Description

Humanity is confronted with fast-changing environmental disruptions impacting the health and wellbeing of people worldwide. By now, the complexity and interconnectedness of climate related health risks threatens gains accomplished for public health and sustainable development globally.

The climate crisis has built up to a global health emergency affecting particularly the most vulnerable populations in low-resource and humanitarian contexts where an overlap of climate and humanitarian crisis exists. While health systems are struggling to keep pace with the rising number of disasters, there is a deep discrepancy between climate related health demands and responsive, adaptive capacity of public health systems and stakeholders leaving the health needs of the most vulnerable unmet.

Globally, health actors and health systems are challenged with a new dimension of health risks and frequently recurring system shocks of climate related disasters, droughts, floods, food insecurity, heat waves, infectious disease, migration, and armed conflicts.

How can human health be protected in a changing climate? Which concepts, measures and tools exist to address arising challenges and health threats?

Using a system approach this two-day workshop combines theoretical lectures and practical case studies, group work and discussion. Participants will learn how climate change affects human health and health systems especially in low-resource and humanitarian contexts. They will be enabled to apply a planetary health lens to their work, to consider public health in dependency to environmental and social determinants, to strengthen climate and environment resilient health systems and support efforts to reduce the environmental footprint of health systems.

The course requires basic knowledge on climate change adaptation (it is possible to attend first our introductory course: Introduction to Main Concepts and Terminologies in Climate Change Adaptation, but it is not obligatory). If you are interested in gaining credit towards a Certificate of Advanced Studies in "Anticipatory Humanitarian Action", you need to complete this course and two additional specific CCA courses, under prerequisite of passing the exam in form of individual work after completion of all courses (please also see the general exam regulation of aha).

You will learn…

  • how climate change impacts human health and health systems, with a particular focus on humanitarian settings.
  • the gendered vulnerabilities that women and girls face in the context of climate change.
  • tools and measures to assess and strengthen climate- and environment-resilient, low-carbon health systems.
  • different adaptive and mitigative pathways for health, particularly in low-resource and humanitarian contexts.
  • why Loss and Damage is considered the third pillar of climate action efforts.

Time and Location

The course will take place online on 20 and 21 May 2025 from 9am to 5pm CET each day. A detailed schedule can be found on the course page.

Target Group

Young and senior professionals in humanitarian action and other practitioners in relevant fields, who already have basic knowledge of climate change adaptation and are interested in deepening their specific knowledge in the health sector.

Trainer

Dr. med. Sabine Baunach is a medical doctor with a Master of Science in International Health and a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Public Health. After initial years in the German healthcare sector she has worked for many years internationally for various humanitarian and development aid organizations to protect human health of crisis affected populations with a focus on Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights and Child Health. For some years now, she has expanded the focus of her work to address climate and environment related implications to human health and to foster pathways into a just and healthy future for all through a Planetary Health approach.

Currently, Sabine works as health consultant and trainer at the nexus of climate change and health, SRHR and capacity building.

How to Apply:

You can find a detailed schedule and the registration form here: https://aha-trainings.de/courses/cca-health
For questions, remarks or concerns, please consult aha-anmeldungen[at]akademie.ruhr-uni-bochum.de.

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Responding to Climate Change: Perspectives and Strategies for the Health Sector
Academy of the Ruhr-University Bochum
Training
null
Closing Date
2025-05-21 09:10:33
Experience
Not required
Type
Training/Workshop