Tanzania
Tanzania is already experiencing increased climate variability and climate change, resulting in increasing temperature, late rainfall onset, decreasing rainfall amounts and shifts in pattern rainfall. According to the WHO UNFCCC Climate Change and Health Country Profile for Tanzania, under a high emissions scenario, mean annual temperature is projected to rise by about 4.7°C on average from 1990 to 2100. If global emissions decrease rapidly, the temperature rise is limited to about 1.2°C.
Under a high emissions scenario, 808,200 people annually are projected to be affected by flooding due to sea level rise between 2070 and 2100. Flooding causes extensive indirect health effects, including impacts on food production, water provision, ecosystem disruption, infectious disease outbreak and vector distribution. Vector-borne diseases, diarrhoeal diseases and malnutrition are all influenced by seasonal, inter-annual climate variability, and are predicted to increase with increasing temperatures.
For more information on climate and health in Tanzania, read the WHO UNFCCC Tanzania Country Profile here.
Organizations involved: WMO, CCAFS, CICERO, CMI, IFRC, WFP, WHO
Description: Global Framework for Climate Service implementation at a national level is bringing sectoral partners together to enhance user-driven climate services for food security, disaster risk reduction, and health.
Website: http://www.gfcs-climate.org/Norway_2
Organizations involved: WHO TDR, IDRC
Description: The programme focuses on social and environmental factors affecting the transmission and control of vector-borne diseases
Organizations involved: IRI, DFID, GFCS
Description: The Enhancing National Climate Services (ENACTS) initiative transforms local, national and regional climate-sensitive development decisions through the widespread uptake of timely, relevant, locally-enhanced and quality-assured climate information at relevant spatial and temporal scales.
Organizations involved: DFID, NERC, Walker Institute, University of Leeds, African Centre for Technology Studies, Tanzania Meteorological Agency, Ugandan National Meteorological Authority
Description: The objective of this multi-disciplinary study is to better understand, and improve the projections of, the effects of climate change on rural livelihoods and urban infrastructure in the Lake Victoria basin. This will allow for policymakers to create better informed policy. This study involves meteorologists, hydrologists, engineers, agronomists, fisheries experts and social scientists working in East Africa.
Website: http://www.futureclimateafrica.org/project/hycristal/
Organizations involved: The Department for International Development (DFID), WHO
Description: The objective of the project is to support the development of a common operational framework to build climate resilience, support revision of climate-resilient and health promoting policies for water management and WASH, and pilot climate-resilient water safety plans and household interventions.
Organizations involved: A consortium of 16 universities
Description: This is a publicly available resource for evaluating climate change risks on water-related and vector-borne disease. It is a user-targeted online platform that allows health professionals and decision makers to visually examine projected transmission risk for malaria, schistosomiasis and Rift Valley fever, as well as the state of several indicators of social vulnerability.
Website: http://www.healthyfutures.eu/
Organizations involved: WHO, GIZ
Description: V&A Assessments build capacity, establish partnerships, and provide actionable information for decision-makers on health risks associated with climate, and identify priority policies and programmes to prevent or reduce the severity of future impacts.
Website: https://www.climhealthafrica.org/projects-vulnerability-and-adaptation-assessments
On 12 June 1992, Tanzania signs the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which defines the adverse effects of climate change as inclusive of human health and welfare. The definition also includes the notion of equity of production, including for future generations.
On 17 April 1996, Tanzania ratifies the UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), showing the country’s commitment to addressing climate change issues nationally and globally through cooperation.
On 26 August 2002, Tanzania ratifies the Kyoto Protocol, which commits 128 participating countries to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by over 5% below 1990 levels by 2008-2012. The Protocol is the first step towards reducing global impact on the climate system, thereby working to mitigate the impacts of climate change on human health.
Tanzania develops its National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPA) by evaluating the impacts of adverse climatic conditions in seven key sectors of economic growth, including the human health sector, and ranks the identified activities using multi-criteria analysis to arrive at a list of fourteen urgent and immediate priority needs for adaptation.
Tanzania signs the Libreville Declaration on Health and Environment in Africa, which stands as the umbrella framework upon which African countries and their development partners coherently address environmental determinants of human health.
A national stakeholder workshop is held in January 2012 to validate the final draft of the National Climate Change Strategy. The Strategy highlights human health as one of the major areas of climate change impact and includes the development of sufficient capacities within social facilities to address climate change related health risks as a key cross cutting objective.
The GFCS Climate Services Adaptation for Africa program is launched in Tanzania and Malawi. A kick-off meeting in Dar es Salaam brings together 40 stakeholders from various sectors. The meeting identifies the main challenges to establishing a National Framework for Climate Services and establishes a Climate and Health Project Delivery Team (PDT) to oversee all GFCS activities in Tanzania.
The Tanzania National Consultation Workshop for Climate Services is held in Dar es Salaam. The workshop aims to identify the institutional and operational needs, gaps, and capacities for climate services in agriculture, food security, health, and disaster risk reduction sectors in Tanzania.
The Roll Back Malaria Partnership holds an executive briefing on strengthening national climate data and information for malaria decision-making in Africa. This executive briefing and national stakeholder consultation provide an overview of existing programs and research using climate science and information in operational malaria research.
The WHO develops a number of informational educational and communication materials on climate and health to be used with a number of audiences in the country. Materials developed include leaflets that address the impacts of climate change on health, water, and environment in Tanzania, and posters and leaflets that address the association of climate change with the implementation of Water Safety Plans in urban water utilities.
The Tanzania Meteorological Agency and the WMO conducts a training workshop in Dar es Salaam on climate modeling for weather experts from Tanzania and Malawi. The training aims to develop a capacity for climate model analysis and climate change impact assessments.
In order to build awareness and improve communication regarding the health impacts of climate, the Government of Tanzania publishes a National Climate Change and Health Communication Strategy in January 2016. In February 2017, key stakeholders meet to validate the Strategy.
A four-day training held in Morogoro is held with 33 participants, mostly health officers from around the country. The training aims to equip participants with the necessary skills and knowledge for dealing with and managing the impacts of climate variability and change on health in Tanzania.
On 22 April 2016, Tanzania signs the Paris Agreement, which not only sets ambitious aims to curb greenhouse gas emissions, but pushes countries to develop adaptation plans that will protect human health from the worst impacts of climate change, such as droughts, heat waves, and floods.
Tanzania hosts the Programme Steering Committee for the GFCS Adaptation Programme in Africa. The meeting aims to review progress on programme implementation and share experiences, challenges, and lessons learned that will inform the design of Phase II of the programme, which starts in 2017. The meeting also includes an indigenous knowledge write-up workshop and participatory planning with partners from the countries’ project delivery teams.
The WHO and UNFCCC Climate and Health Country Profiles (2015) provide a standard framework for gauging national policy responses to climate and health issues. The table below shows the latest information for Tanzania, updated in 2016.
Country has identifed a national focal point for climate change in the Ministry of Health | |
Country has a national health adaptation strategy approved by relevant government body | |
The National Communication submitted to UNFCCC includes health implications of climate change mitigation policies |
Country is currently implementing projects or programs on health adaptation to climate change | |
Country has implemented actions to build institutional and technical capacities to work on climate change and health | |
Country has conducted a national assessment of climate change impacts, vulnerability and adaptation for health | |
Country has climate information included in Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) system, including development of early warning and response systems for climate-sensitive health risks | |
Country has implemented activities to increase climate resilience of health infrastructure |
Estimated costs to implement health resilience to climate change included in planned allocations from domestic funds in the last financial biennium | |
Estimated costs to implement health resilience to climate change included in planned allocations from international funds in the last fnancial biennium |
The national strategy for climate change mitigation includes consideration of the health implications (health risks or co-benefts) of climate change mitigation actions | |
Country has conducted valuation of co-benefts of health implications of climate mitigation policies |