Health care facilities cannot deliver safe care without reliable water, sanitation and hygiene; this is not the reality for many frontline facilities in low resource, remote and climate exposed settings, where they are often the first to lose these services during heat, drought, flooding and storms. This session presents practical, replicable approaches to securing climate resilient WASH in frontline health care, drawing on case studies from the Philippines, the Eastern Mediterranean, Australia and the Pacific. Speakers from health ministries, humanitarian organisations, academia and clinical practice will cover facility risk assessment, low cost adaptation measures, and the financing gap between national adaptation plans and the facilities that implement them. The session will identify actions for governments, funders and water utilities to prioritise health care facilities in water resilience investment.
November 9, 15:30 - 17:00
The session supports the Global Goal on Adaptation, where the UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience sets targets for both climate-resilient water and sanitation and climate-resilient health services. It responds directly to two COP31 Presidency priority themes: Dynamic and Resilient Health Systems, and Climate-Resilient Cities. It also contributes to the Belém Health Action Plan, which commits countries to strengthen health system resilience through infrastructure, surveillance and capacity-building. On finance, the session addresses how adaptation finance can reach facility level.
