DILI, 07 april 2022 (TATOLI) – The World Health Organization (WHO), together with the Ministry of Health (MoH), today, celebrated World Health Day, at the Ministry of Health office in Dili, where both parties share commitment to work together to promote healthier, fairer, and greener health system and well-being societies.
In his remark, the WHO Representative to Timor-Leste, Arvind Mathur reaffirmed WHO’s commitment to work shoulder to shoulder and hand in hand with the MoH to achieve the vision of healthy Timorese and healthy Timor-Leste.
“Today, I call upon you Hon Health Minister, Municipality Administrator, Hon Secretary of State for Environment, and the whole of Government and all people to preserve and protect health and mitigate the climate crisis,” Mathur made the comments in his remarks at the celebration of the World Health Day, at Palácio das Cinzas, in Dili, today.
Let’s commit and reimagine a Timor Leste with clean air, water, and healthy foods for all, an economy that keeps the health and well-being of people at the center, climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable health infrastructure in more liveable cities and municipalities, and equitable health to build well-being societies for Greener Timor Leste, he said.
In the midst of a pandemic, a polluted planet, increasing diseases like cancer, asthma, heart disease, on World Health Day 2022, WHO focused global attention on urgent actions needed to keep humans and the planet healthy and foster a movement to create societies focused on well-being.
At the celebration, both WHO and MoH raise a number of important points on the interconnectedness between the planet and health: “Climate crisis is a health crisis.”
“As a Small Island Developing State, Timor Leste has vulnerabilities for more frequent and severe extreme weather events, sea-level rise and saline intrusion, issues of food and water security, heat stress and increased incidence of Dengue,” Mathur explained.
Mathur highlighted a few major challenges globally and relevant to Timor Leste as all parties need actions for adaptation, mitigation, and certainly policy response to enhance not only health system resilience but overall, for protecting planet Earth.
“Burning Fossil Fuels causes air pollution which globally kills 13 people every minute due to lung cancer, heart disease, and strokes,” he said.
Per available data, more than 95% of the population primarily use solid fuels for cooking. Air Pollution in and around the home is largely a result of the burning of solid fuels (biomass or coal) for cooking. 62% of an estimated 500 child deaths due to acute Lower Respiratory Tract Infection is attributable to household air pollution.
Frequent Floods and extreme rainfall resulting from climate change caused drownings, injuries, trauma, and also infectious diseases.
“As I stated earlier, the Anniversary of the Seroja cyclone is a reminder of our vulnerability as we continue to experience frequent flash floods and landslides etc. which destroys homes, displaces people and puts tremendous pressure on the system,” Mathur recalled.
The world witnessed increasing heatwaves with prolonged days of warm spells and an increase in temperature and on the other side the days of high precipitation or heavy rainfall: “Such patterns have strong linkage with vector-borne diseases. In fact, with one Degree increase in temperature, an 11% increase in Dengue, a 2% increase in Scabies, and 1% blood diarrhea is noted as per the National Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment of Climate Change to Human Health in Timor Leste.
Unsafely managed health care waste management has many risks to health workers- needlestick injuries, Hepatitis B and C, Transmission of infectious diseases and also inhalation of carcinogenic dioxins and furans from burning plastic health care waste.
“I one more time reiterate WHO’s firm commitment that as the trusted and reliable partner of the Ministry of Health, we will extend actionable technical support and collaborate with the Government of Timor-Leste in its continuing endeavors for improving the health of people in achieving the vision of “Healthy Timorese in Healthy Timor Leste.” Mathur reiterated.
At the same place, the Minister of Health, Odete Belo Freitas also raised the impacts of climate change on human infectious disease.
Rising temperatures and increased precipitation can promote an array of infectious diseases, from vector-borne diseases (eg, malaria, dengue, and leishmaniasis), to enteric infections and diarrhea (eg, cholera, vibriosis, and rotavirus infection), and to parasitic diseases such as schistosomiasis.
“Humans are the major cause of climate change and global warming. For instance, cutting trees for firewood causes long droughts, and makes it difficult for agriculture to grow nutritious food. Therefore, I call on every household to plan at least one tree. In addition, every school and public institution also must plant trees to tackle the climate crisis and save our environment,” Freitas said.
Freitas also emphasized the importance of proper medical waste management and control to prevent pathogens and toxic substances from polluting the land and water.
Talking about medical waste management and control, Mathur also said that the situation in Timor Leste is even more challenging or threatening as even incinerators at many regional referral hospitals are not even working. There is an immediate need for shifting to appropriate technologies for “Green Health Care Waste Management” per the strategy as we look to introduce “Autoclave” as part of an overall approach to reducing the “Carbon Foot- Print of Health Sector” approach.
World Health Day is being celebrated today to mark the foundation of the World Health Organization on april 7, 1948. Every year, a theme is chosen for the day, and this time, it is “Our Planet, Our Health”.
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Rafy Belo
