The Adjohoun, Bonou and Dangbo (ABD) health zone in the lower Ouémé valley of south-eastern Benin is highly vulnerable to seasonal and extreme flooding, rising temperatures and humidity. They lead to multiple climate-related health impacts, most notably vector-borne diseases such as malaria, and non-communicable conditions including acute respiratory infections (ARIs) and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Flood events exacerbate challenges by damaging health infrastructure and equipment, disrupting essential health services, and restricting access for vulnerable populations. Women, children, persons with disabilities, and the elderly are among the groups most at risk.

Benin’s health sector is underfunded and ill-equipped to deal with how climate change affects people’s health. The country’s public resources are stretched thin, and there is limited flexibility to invest in building a climate-resilient health sector. Additional barriers include the lack of knowledge and awareness of climate-health linkages, limited health technologies, infrastructure, and early warning systems, reduced access of populations to health facilities in climatic events, and limited participation of vulnerable groups in decision-making processes.

The project seeks to address climate-sensitive health risks by strengthening the resilience of public health systems and vulnerable communities. This will be pursued through the integration of climate information into disease surveillance systems to improve health early warning systems; enhancing the operational capacities of health personnel to manage emergencies during extreme weather events; climate-proofing health infrastructure and providing essential equipment; supporting climate-resilient community livelihoods; and raising local awareness.

The project’s comprehensive, community-based model aims to address the critical nexus of climate change and health. Its multi-pronged design targets high-risk groups while strengthening local capacities and systems, positioning the project as an innovative model for Locally Led Adaptation.

Strengthening the Health Resilience of Communities Vulnerable to Climate Change in Benin’s ABD (Adjohoun, Bonou and Dangbo) Zone

<p>Project information is sourced from Green Climate Fund. Please check terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.</p>

Gender action plan for SAP055: Strengthening the Health Resilience of Communities Vulnerable to Climate Change in Benin’s ABD (Adjohoun, Bonou and Dangbo) Zone

Project

Benin

Climate Project Explorer

{text} climate projects

Climate Project Explorer is a single point of entry for navigating and exploring the MCF's documents (including project documents and policies).

Climate Fund Search

Quickly and easily search through the complete text of thousands of project documents.

Search the Climate Project Explorer database

An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Zoning and spatial planning are both methods for guiding the distribution of people and activities in a space, and are regulatory restriction.

Financial actors and resources that are primarily directed towards climate change mitigation, adaptation and compensation.

Dedicated pool of financial resources for climate-related projects.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Actions to adapt human health, healthcare systems and well-being to climate change.

Actions and measures to adapt and increase resilience of societies and the economy to climate change.

Extreme weather refers to events where a weather variable exceeds (or falls below) a threshold. Meaning it is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern.

Social inclusion is the process of improving the terms on which individuals and groups take part in society—improving the ability, opportunity, and dignity of those disadvantaged on the basis of their identity.

People with different national or cultural traditions from the dominant population

Social and cultural groups that share collective ancestral ties to the lands and natural resources where they live, occupy or from which they have been displaced

People whose health, both mental and physical, makes them more vulnerable to the effects of climate change

woman and genders outside of the gender binary

Households employing domestic workers, for activities like cooking, cleaning and subsistence farming, for their own use.

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

Activities that provide lodging, food, and entertainment services to guests, including hotels, restaurants, and resorts.

This sector involves activities that impart knowledge and skills to individuals, including formal schooling, vocational training and educational support.

This sector includes firms and individuals offering specialised expertise in fields such as law, accounting, consulting, science and engineering.

Activities that involve the cultivation of crops and raising of livestock for food, fibre, and other products essential for human life and industry.

Activities involving the catching, processing, and selling of fish for food, recreation, and industry.

This sector provides medical services, manufactures medical equipment, and develops pharmaceuticals to maintain and improve health.

Gender action plan for SAP055: Strengthening the Health Resilience of Communities Vulnerable to Climate Change in Benin’s ABD (Adjohoun, Bonou and Dangbo) Zone

Target

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Just transition

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance

Adaptation Fund

Climate Investment Funds

Green Climate Fund

Global Environment Facility