Author: Moshood Isah

By Atef Fawaz

In the last two decades, more than 1.3 million people and nearly two trillion dollars have been lost to disasters caused by natural hazards, a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) data reveals. These disasters tend to come with varying degrees of devastation and impacts while in many other cases, affected locations tend to battle with especially public health emergencies during and after such disasters. 

While these disasters are largely natural, the escalation of wars in different parts of the world causes both humanitarian and environmental depredation with potential public health exigency. For instance, since its commencement in February 2022, the World Health Organisation revealed that about  7 million individuals have been displaced within Ukraine and another 7.5 million refugees have been displaced across Europe with over 6000 deaths. Meanwhile in the first 2 weeks, the Palestine-Israeli war has registered over 3000 deaths with many more wounded and displaced. 

Thus there are major concerns that the ongoing crisis in the region is not just an international relations crisis but also a public health crisis that can result in long-term consequences. With the few available hospitals overcrowded, overwhelmed and reaching breaking point while corpses litter the streets, medical experts are concerned about the potential outbreak of infectious diseases especially in Gaza.  Beyond little or no access to good food and water, victims of the ongoing crises risk mental health disorders like depression, anxiety amongst others. Even in the cause of seeking succor, displaced persons are largely exposed to health risks which could degenerate into pandemic both now and in the future. 

For instance, Dr. Jack Tsai, a professor and regional dean at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health in San Antonio is worried that people who are forcibly displaced are at greater risk of communicable diseases such as COVID-19 and measles, which could lead to an outbreak. Also, the impact of deadly weapons like rockets, gravity bombs, amongst others could escalate the potential of future disasters from floods, and earthquakes to public health crises like pandemics and other  outbreaks. 

At the moment, immediate medical attention for the victims of war remains a priority, these nations could be preparing for an impending public health emergency in the near future. With hospitals vulnerable to attacks and healthcare workers losing their lives in the process, the diminishing healthcare facilities and personnel will no doubt contribute to an impending health emergency both during and aftermath of the conflict.  It’s more worrisome that these crises have the potential to spillover to neighboring countries and allies to affected nations as a result of mass migration.

This no doubt underscores the importance of developing robust Digital health intervention strategies to complement existing structures for a more improved response to a potential public health emergency and response. One important global best practice is the operationalization  of Emergency Operation Centers (EOC) that provides a platform for response teams to collect, analyze, prioritize, monitor, and disseminate information about health crises or disasters. This goes  a long way in providing access to information to stakeholders to ensure timely and effective decisions to ensure effective response to health emergencies. Just last year, the WHO inaugurated its first EOC in Gaza as part of efforts to improve emergency response amidst incessant conflict and health emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Thus this is an opportunity to identify digital innovations and creative strategies to respond to impending health emergencies in the region.  Experts have suggested that Digital Health solutions can facilitate the integration of health data to monitor impacts, and potentially predict impacts on health, and also serve as decision support tools to provide alerts for potential related disasters. For instance, the Center for Strategic and International studies in one of its briefs on Disaster Risk Reduction through Digital Transformation revealed that, using data from Twitter feeds or even from satellite imagery has helped map the spread of disasters, especially with pandemics. Similarly, it was said that social media platforms played an important role in identifying and discussing symptoms of COVID-19 even before it became a pandemic. The online conversations no doubt helped medical experts to determine the origin of the virus and its eventual spread.

Also, applications like Geographic Information System; an important analytical mapping technology, helps build early warning systems in a bid to understand where potential hazards are located, how many people are affected and what response is needed. With this deep modeling capabilities of GIS, public health leaders and governments in developing nations or vulnerable locations  have a huge opportunity to build a predictive and estimation data repertoire, which can lead to more efficiently targeted emergency preparedness and recovery strategies.

There is also a need to develop emergency communications applications in a bid to reach out to a large public about emergency response efforts. Through this kind of mobile applications, users can receive weather reports, locate emergency shelters and even register for disaster aid. The app offers tips for handling over 20 types of emergency situations and disasters.  An example is the First Aid Disaster Readiness App developed by the  American Red Cross which provides health instructions in situations where victims cannot access hospital immediately. The app has consistently helped in to control bleeding, treat a broken bone, perform Cardiopulmonary resuscitation amongst others. Aside from providing support on first aid for allergies, asthma attacks, burns, choking, distress, heat strokes, stings and bites, the multiple section application also provides detailed information on preparing for situations like  an earthquake, drought, flooding, landslides, tsunamis, volcanoes, and more.

Developing nations must also learn from the current situation by strongly investing in digital structures, building partnerships across all critical stakeholders and developing a legal framework that meets global standards in a bid to internalize effective digital health strategy.  

Atef Fawaz is the Executive Director of eHealth Africa. He is a Complex operations Management and ICT expert with experience in Humanitarian Response and Digital Health

By Atef Fawaz

The gospel of promoting environmental sustainability seems to have lasted as long as the human race, with the campaign taking different dimensions in different periods during the last decades. The apprehension about sudden change in temperatures in recent times has escalated precipitation leading to flood, amongst other negative impacts. It is more worrisome as the environmental situation is now being consistently aggravated by human activities, leading to a global concern that requires action from all .  Thus, this year’s International Youth Day with the theme; Green Skills for Youth: Towards a Sustainable World, rightly mainstreams  the need to shift towards an environmentally sustainable and climate-friendly world.  This is not just crucial in promoting the global climate crisis but also relevant in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as it relates to health and other sectors; the role of young people in the entire process cannot be underestimated.

According to the United Nations Concept note for this year’s celebration, Green skills are “knowledge, abilities, values and attitudes needed to live in, develop and support a sustainable and resource-efficient society”. This holistically captures all technical knowledge and skills that enable the effective use of green technologies and processes in occupational settings, as well as transversal skills that draw on a range of knowledge, values and attitudes to facilitate environmentally sustainable decisions in work and in life. As confirmed by the  International Labour Organization (ILO), green skills transcends basic agriculture to any skill/job that contributes to the reduction  in the consumption of energy and raw materials, limit greenhouse gas emissions, minimize waste and pollution, protect and restore ecosystems and enable enterprises and communities to adapt to climate change.

It’s even further interesting that, to a large extent, human jobs and survival largely depend on the sustainability of the natural environment. Thus there is a huge responsibility to take intentional steps that promote a sustainable environment. In this vein, stakeholders at all levels must galvanize the energy of young people towards achieving green skills to build a sustainable world across different sectors. 

Specifically, the health sector is taking notable leaps in developing and deploying digital innovations that have significantly reduced the use of paper in the health systems. This protects the trees, contributing to the SDGs of ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being at all ages. Digital innovations like Logistics Management Information System (LoMIS),  a suite  of offline-capable mobile and web applications developed by eHealth Africa, addresses  challenges with the supply/distribution of health commodities to last-mile health facilities. The LoMIS Suite  applications provide critical solutions that ensure availability of health commodities, effective vaccine management, and enable broader health system policy decisions through the use of real data for insight and execution at the community, state and national level. Deployed in primary healthcare facilities in Kano, Sokoto and Bauchi, the solutions have  reduced the challenge of zero stock for vaccines due to effective automated documentation of vaccines and its consumables while also limiting the use of papers to promote sustainability in both environment and the health sector.   Progress recorded for  SDG Goal 3, reveals  global health has made some improvements in recent years. For example, 146 out of 200 countries or areas have already met or are on track to meet the SDG target on under-5 mortality.

Other environmental-friendly tools that have been used in the health sector in recent years include Geographic Information Systems (GIS);  particularly  in the area of vaccination and immunization programs. Geospatial tools that use environmental data however require stability of environmental conditions to ensure its optimal utility.

Thus there are a series of platforms that can be harnessed to achieve the objective of mainstreaming green skills amongst young people in line with the objective of this year’s commemorations. While healthcare stakeholders in concomitance with Information technology experts are increasingly scaling innovations to improve early detection and response to diseases, it is paramount to equip young healthcare providers especially at state and Local Government levels with the knowledge and information necessary to understand the importance of green skills to further promote sustainability in the sector.

This can be achieved through targeted training of budding experts in various sectors to build relevant skills that will enable them to contribute to achieving a sustainable world across sectors. A great example is the eHealth Africa Academy which has consistently built young people’s skills in website creation, software development and design that can be used to solve local problems across sectors to promote a sustainable world.

To complement existing efforts, governments at all levels have a huge responsibility to initiate and promote important policies that will encourage the learning and adoption of green skills especially by young people. Also, there is an urgent need to implement laws that encourage data protection and security during interphase between digital innovations and human beings.

Ultimately young people must understand that, as a critical demographic in the world right now, the success or failure of green transition will rely on them. As an intergenerational bridge between the younger and older generation, young people need to be well-equipped with green skills to successfully navigate this changing environment and leverage the opportunities that it presents for a more sustainable future.