Health, SRH and Climate Change Integration

Introduction

Climate change has profound direct and indirect impacts on health and well-being, driving injury and death from heatwaves, extreme weather events, wildfires, displacement, and the spread of vector-borne and water-borne diseases. It exacerbates food and water insecurity, worsens outcomes for non-communicable diseases, and leads to adverse maternal and child health outcomes. Additionally, climate change poses significant threats to sexual health and reproductive rights and contributes to negative mental health impacts. Despite its far-reaching effects, the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of women and girls often remain neglected during climate-related emergencies, resulting in poor maternal health outcomes, reduced access to family planning services, increased gender-based violence, and forced marriages.

The intersection of climate change, SRHR, and gender highlights critical gaps that demand urgent attention. Integrated policy frameworks that address these interconnected issues comprehensively are lacking. Awareness and advocacy efforts regarding the impacts of climate change on SRHR are limited, especially in vulnerable communities where the compounded effects are most severe. Despite strong evidence linking gender equality and SRHR to increased resilience against climate impacts, these critical issues remain consistently underrepresented in global climate negotiations, national climate policies, financing, and actions. Discussions on the intersection of SRHR, gender, and climate change often overlook their vital role in building climate resilience, leaving a persistent gap in addressing these essential connections. Fragmented research and data further hinder a holistic understanding and effective policy-making.

Integrating SRHR into climate action is crucial as it enhances the resilience and adaptive capacity of communities, particularly for women and girls, by addressing their health and rights comprehensively. This integration is key to achieving sustainable development goals by promoting health equity and gender equality within climate adaptation and mitigation strategies. Moreover, it strengthens multi-sectoral partnerships and mobilizes resources, ensuring that climate policies are inclusive and equitable.

Training objectives

Overall Objective: To equip participants with foundational knowledge, skills, and strategies to integrate climate change into SRHR advocacy.

programming, and community-level engagements.

Objectives:

By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

Understand key concepts of climate change and gender, and their intersections with SRHR.
Identify the disproportionate impacts of climate change on vulnerable groups, particularly women, girls and youth, in Africa.
Explore global climate change frameworks and agreements at Global and National levels and their relevance to SRHR programming and advocacy.
Develop strategies to integrate climate change considerations into SRHR work plans and advocacy campaigns.
Draft actionable work plan activities addressing climate change for their 2025 efforts.

Expected Outcomes from the Training

Enhanced understanding of the SRHR-climate nexus among RHAP partners.
Development of actionable work plans that integrate climate action into already existing SRHR programs and efforts.
Improved capacity to advocate for and secure climate finance for SRHR-related initiatives.
Strengthened collaboration and partnerships for effective implementation of integrated SRHR and climate change programs.