Climate Change and Health in Kiribati

The following activities are being supported under the European Union funded GCCA: PSIS project in Kiribati.

Climate change adaptation project

The ‘Improving Implementation of Environmental Health Surveillance and Response to Climate Sensitive Health Risks in Kiribati’ project is implementing activities to improve the capacity of the Ministry of Health and Medical Services, in particular the Environmental Health Unit. It will provide equipment and training to better enable Ministry of Health and Medical Services staff to monitor and respond to climate sensitive health risks.

The objective of the project activities is to increase the population’s resilience to the potential adverse effects of climate change through prevention and control of health risks that are affected by climate variability and change.

These include:

  • Water-borne diseases, including diarrhoea and giardia. Diarrheal disease is an important determinant in the high rate of childhood mortality in Kiribati;
  • Food-borne illnesses resulting from the presence of bacteria and toxins in food. This includes ciguatera, or fish poisoning; and
  • Vector-borne diseases, particularly dengue fever and other mosquito-borne diseases.

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Technical assistance with mainstreaming of climate change and improving access to climate finance

In Kiribati, the GCCA: PSIS project has supported:

  • Preparation of a climate change communications strategy and provision of skilled communicators (see the Strategy).
  • An assessment of the extent to which climate change has been mainstreamed into national and sectoral policies and plans (see a summary of the assessment).
  • Workshop on the establishment of GIS for use in the Kiribati Health Portal (see report).

Training and capacity building

As part of the GCCA: PSIS project, several kinds of trainings have been delivered in Kiribati:

Responding to climate sensitive health risks in Kiribati