At the Second Asia Pacific Health Financing Forum in 2024, Pelesala Kaleia, Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in Tuvalu, highlighted the visible impacts of climate change on the health of the people in Tuvalu. She emphasized the emergence of new diseases and outbreaks in the country that are believed to be linked to climate change. With Tuvalu being one of the smallest countries and less than five meters above sea level, the pressing issue of climate change poses a significant threat to the nation.
Pelesala stressed the necessity for climate-smart health systems to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change, acknowledging the importance of learning from other countries’ successful approaches to improving their health sector. She mentioned ongoing efforts, with support from the World Bank, to build resilient and climate-smart health infrastructure and expand digital health and telemedicine to ensure continuous access to healthcare technology across all atolls in Tuvalu.
The 2024 Asia and Pacific Health Financing Forum, co-hosted by the World Bank and the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children, and Adolescents, provided a crucial platform for countries in the region to share knowledge and insights on initiatives addressing the intersection of universal health coverage and climate change.
