MOROCCO – Morocco is among the group of 50 countries which committed to develop a climate-resilient and low-carbon health system at the UN Climate Change Conference currently held in Glasgow (COP26).
Forty-five of these countries, including some of those most vulnerable to the health harms caused by climate change as well as some of the world’s biggest carbon emitters, have pledged to make their health systems more sustainable and low-carbon. Fourteen have set a target date to reach net zero carbon emissions on or before 2050.
These commitments were made following growing scientific evidence of the impact of climate change on people’s health. They are part of the COP26 Health Program, set up in partnership with the UK government, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
“The future of health must be built on health systems that are resilient to the impacts of epidemics, pandemics and other emergencies, but also to the impacts of climate change, including extreme weather events and the increasing burden of various diseases related to air pollution and our warming planet,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
Morocco, ranked 1st country in Africa and the Arab world in terms of climate performance, has pledged to raise its Nationally Determined Contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45.5% by 2030.
This is part of an integrated, low-carbon development strategy to be implemented by the year 2050. It aims to help advancing a green economy, enhancing sustainable development and economic resilience to global warming.
The Northern African country is not only leading in pro-health climate initiatives, but also in the fight against Covid-19. In September, Morocco was among the African countries to have reached the global immunization target set in May by the World Health Assembly of vaccinating 10% of the most vulnerable groups against COVID-19 by the end of September, the WHO regional office for Africa said.
Most recently, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) designated the Institut Pasteur, Casablanca, Morocco to serve as part of a network of Centres of Excellence (CoE) for COVID-19 vaccination.
Institut Pasteur of Morocco demonstrated efficiency in COVID-19 vaccination rollout in their respective countries. Case in point, Morocco has vaccinated more than 80% of its targeted population.
Rwanda Biomedical Centre was also selected alongside Morroco. The African CDC CoE for COVID-19 vaccination are expected to provide capacity building services to professionals from difference member states across Africa and share best practices on management of vaccination centres, logistics of vaccine distribution, and community engagement and risk communication.
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