Hitting the curve of climate change on environmental health

26 September 2024

This World Environmental Health Day, the City team responsible for protecting the public from environmental impacts unpacked how climate change is impacting the way they work, and how they need to change their game plan to deal with it.

The City of Cape Town employs 209 Environmental Health Practitioners (EHPs) who are tasked with monitoring and managing all areas where the environment and public health intersect.

Some key responsibilities include food and water quality; monitoring for incidents of waterborne and foodborne diseases; vector management, including rodent baiting and participating in multi-sectoral inspections to clamp down on the sale of illegal pesticides; monitoring air quality; infectious disease management and other health challenges.

Education and awareness efforts in the last year included 1 233 health and hygiene projects in informal settlements, and 1 555 health promotion outreach programmes in schools.

'Environmental factors are an ongoing threat to public health. A simple example is summer. While it might mean more time at the beach, the heat also increases the risk of food spoiling more quickly, germs spreading faster, an increase in diarrhoeal disease, and of course flies, mosquitoes and other pests. It also increases the risk of fires, which in turn affect our air quality – specifically those with respiratory conditions.

'Due to climate change, our summers are set to get even hotter, which means that these risks to public health will increase, and so too the load on our Environmental Health Practitioners. This requires collective effort – and while the conversation about mitigation is a step in the right direction, all of us need to do our bit to make it happen,' said Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services and Health, Councillor Patricia van der Ross.

A more in-depth look at the impact of climate change on Environmental Health is available here: https://bit.ly/47HoiWQ

City Health is dedicated to prioritising climate adaptation strategies within its framework to safeguard public health and the environment.

This includes:

• Integrating climate considerations into City Health policies to ensure a proactive approach to health challenges
• Ongoing public advocacy programmes to inform and empower communities about climate-related health issues
• Enhancing surveillance systems to monitor, evaluate and respond to climate-related health trends
• Collaborating with other City service departments to enhance disaster preparedness and response capabilities within communities
• Training and Skills Development for City staff to build capacity in climate adaptation
  

Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office