A Novel Extreme Weather Risk Insurance System for Kenya (NEWRISK)

Résumé fourni par la source

Global warming is already endangering health systems around the world. This is likely to become much worse as extreme weather shocks increase the number of patients who need care while diminishing the capacity of health facilities to deliver services. Promisingly, recent work has shown that collaborative learning approaches can be used to build health system resilience, and that climate risk insurance can help encourage adaptation while spreading and off-setting risks. We will draw on and develop this work to help Kenya s health system prepare for climate shocks. We aim to predict the risks to Kenyan health facilities from extreme events in a changing climate. We will draw on open-source data and the latest high-resolution climate simulations to define the likelihood and intensity of extreme weather events across Kenya. We will then survey the capacity and the level of preparedness of health facilities to cope with extreme weather, in terms of their infrastructure, material, human resources and management. The resulting analysis of extreme weather, population vulnerability, and health facility vulnerability can be combined using geospatial mapping to provide a uniquely detailed analysis of extreme weather hazards, risks to vulnerable populations, health system capabilities, and potential mitigations. We will analyse and share this information with health facilities and the communities they serve. We will use co-design workshops to make local plans that address the priorities of local people. This will help the facilities to prepare for extreme weather. We will also identify priorities for mitigating the worst effects of extreme weather. This may include establishing top-up hardship payments to retain essential staff, or digging ditches to prepare for flooding. We will then investigate the costs of adaptation and the potential benefits of offsetting risks through insurance mechanisms that pay out in the event of extreme weather. We will draw on our previous work in health systems and policy in Kenya to ensure that the conclusions of the work will lead directly into practical policies relevant to all stakeholders. We will present different options to policymakers regarding how best to protect Kenya's health system from extreme weather, including a new form of insurance based on our research that draws on our analysis and tools to target the most important elements of the most important facilities with insurance cover. In conclusion, our intervention should lead to a rich understanding of the risks posed by extreme weather; the development of highly contextualised local plans for mitigating extreme weather impacts; national policies covering the same; and the foundational work to establish extreme weather insurance systems. A successful insurance system would allow health systems around the world to continue to provide care to vulnerable people affected by extreme weather that cannot now be avoided.