NABHI Demands Landmark Action on Health, Ocean, and Climate at UN Ocean Conference

A Stark Diagnosis: The Keynote Address

The centerpiece of the event was the keynote address by Pastor Peters Osawaru Omoragbon, Executive President of NABHI. In his address, titled ‘Healing Our Planet, Healing Our People: Integrated Policies for Health, Climate, and Ocean Resilience,’ Pastor Omoragbon laid out an unequivocal diagnosis: “Human health is oceanic health is climate stability.” He argued that the crises of climate breakdown, ocean collapse, and health system failure form a self-reinforcing vortex that threatens 1.4 billion African lives.

Africa’s Syndemic: A Convergence of Crises

Pastor Omoragbon introduced the concept of “Africa’s Syndemic,” where two or more illness states interact to worsen each other’s trajectory. He presented sobering data showing that Africa suffers 4-7 times the global mortality from climate-linked diseases despite contributing minimally to global emissions. This syndemic manifests in several ways:

• Vector-Borne Disease Surge: Climate change is expanding the reach of diseases like malaria into new territories.

• Heat-Related Mortality: Extreme heatwaves are causing a spike in preventable deaths, particularly among the most vulnerable.

• Nutritional Collapse: Erratic weather patterns lead to crop failures, directly impacting food security and causing severe child malnutrition.

The Ocean-Health Nexus: An Unseen Epidemic

He further detailed how the degradation of Africa’s marine ecosystems—which sustain 120 million people—is creating a public health catastrophe. Key issues include:

• Fisheries Collapse: The depletion of fish stocks is robbing coastal communities of their primary source of protein and livelihood.

• Toxic Seafood: Rising levels of pollutants like mercury in seafood are leading to developmental disabilities in newborns.

• Pathogen Explosion: The destruction of natural filtration systems like coral reefs has led to a dramatic increase in waterborne diseases.

A System in Failure: Governance Fragmentation

Why are African health systems failing to cope? Pastor Omoragbon pointed to critical infrastructural and governance failures, supported by data from NABHI’s 2024 Health Facility Survey. The survey revealed that a lack of backup power for vaccines leaves millions of children without immunization, inadequate water purification leads to deadly cholera outbreaks during floods, and a severe shortage of dialysis units results in avoidable deaths during droughts.

He critically identified a “Silo Syndrome” plaguing African policy, where ministries operate in isolation. He cited the recent flood in Nigeria, predicted by meteorological agencies, where no preventative evacuation was organized, only reactive distribution of food aid after the disaster. This disconnected approach, where environment agencies monitor coral bleaching without linking it to health and fisheries departments report stock decline only after it happens, represents a catastrophic failure of governance.

The Solution: A Framework for Integrated Action

While the diagnosis was grim, the prognosis remains hopeful. Pastor Omoragbon dedicated the second half of his address to presenting a comprehensive, evidence-based cure. He outlined a series of actionable policy pathways and strategic solutions designed to break the cycle of crisis.

The Health-Ocean-Climate Nexus Framework:
This binding protocol calls for deploying 500 nurse-led field teams to map the direct links between coastal water toxicity and child neurodevelopment, and between sea temperature rise and diarrheal prevalence. This data would be integrated into the African Union’s Continental Early Warning System, with funding targeted from a G7 Climate Reparations Fund.

Mobile Ocean-Climate Clinics:
NABHI proposed the deployment of solar-powered vessels equipped with desalination units, portable labs for toxin screening, and satellite-linked telemedicine. Pilot sites were proposed for Nigeria’s Niger Delta (to screen fishers for hydrocarbon poisoning) and Africa’s Great Lakes region (to monitor algal blooms linked to schistosomiasis).

NABHI’s 2025-2027 Action Plan:
This plan includes rapid deployment of solutions in 12 high-risk African nations, focusing on:

• Ecosystem Restoration: Nurse-supervised community planting of 1 million mangrove propagules.

• Health Infrastructure: Building flood-resistant clinics with rainwater harvesting and telemedicine hubs.

• Funding: Leveraging innovative financing like a World Bank Blue Economy Bond.

Fossil Fuel Accountability Mechanism:
Modeled on Nigeria’s Oil Pollution Health Levy, this policy calls for a 7.5% tax on offshore oil profits to create a Health Adaptation Fund. This fund would mandate oil firms to finance pediatric cancer units in oil-producing zones and restore seagrass beds to absorb drilling runoff.

Conclusion: The Nurse’s Prescription and NABHI’s Demands

Pastor Omoragbon concluded with a powerful and deeply personal call to action, encapsulating NABHI’s unique position as the bridge between intensive care units and the oceans.

“When a nurse suctions toxic alga from a child’s lungs in Lake Victoria, then watches pharmaceutical waste choke that same lake – I see the hypocrisy of our fragmented systems. We stand at the precipice. When a child gasps from climate-aggravated asthma—that is our emergency. When marine toxins poison her mother’s breast milk—that too is our emergency. Nurses refuse this insanity. We are the antibodies in Earth’s immune system.”

The event culminated in three clear, non-negotiable demands to the global community:

1. Ratification of the Health-Ocean-Climate Nexus Framework at COP 30.

2. Prosecution of ecological crimes through the International Criminal Court (ICC).

3. Liberation of $100 billion per year from fossil subsidies to fund nurse-led resilience and support healthcare professionals.

The tide of climate and ocean degradation is rising. But as demonstrated at this vital event, so too is the resolve of those on the front lines. NABHI remains steadfast in its commitment to transforming policy, empowering communities, and healing both our planet and our people.