As global health leaders gather this month for the World Health Assembly in Geneva, the question is no longer whether climate change threatens health. Africa needs climate action that saves lives now.
In the mountains around Mokhotlong in northern Lesotho, many villages are so remote they can be reached only on foot or by donkey. Almost all have no electricity. Winters are brutally cold – Lesotho is the highest low-point country in the world – and snow is a common sight.
The landscape is strikingly barren. There are many reasons for the lack of trees, but the biggest is the demand for firewood for cooking and winter warmth. As a result, vast swathes of the country have been denuded of firewood. With wood gone, families have turned to what remains: dried cow dung.
Picture a one-room home, surrounded by snow, a temperature of -5°C outside and the smoke of burning cow dung filling the house, stinging eyes and burning lungs. This fire keeps the children warm. It also steadily increases the risk of pneumonia, asthma and early death.
Energy poverty and weak health systems
This is what the climate crisis looks like when it meets energy poverty and weak health systems. It is not theoretical. It is already harming children in Africa – the continent that has contributed least to the problem.
As global health leaders gather this month for the World…