NABHI’s Health Ocean Climate Nexus Framework
Introduction: An Eyewitness to a Planetary Emergency
“As a nurse with over 40 years in practice… who has resuscitated infants suffering from heat stroke in Nigeria’s drought-stricken north, held children gasping from heat-aggravated asthma in Lagos, and consoled fisherfolk from the Niger Delta whose livelihoods vanished… I stand before you not merely as a healthcare leader, but as an eyewitness to Africa’s silent genocide and as a warrior in our planetary emergency.”
With this arresting introduction, Pastor Peters Osawaru Omoragbon, Executive President of Nurses Across the Borders (NABHI), began his keynote address at a pivotal side event during the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France. His speech was not one of abstract policy but of lived experience, translating decades of frontline healthcare into a powerful, evidence-based prescription for global action.
The Diagnosis: A Self-Reinforcing Vortex
Pastor Omoragbon’s central diagnosis was stark and unequivocal: “Human health is oceanic health is climate stability.” He described the interconnected crises of climate breakdown, ocean collapse, and health system failure as a “self-reinforcing vortex” that disproportionately threatens the 1.4 billion lives on the African continent. This is not a future problem; it is a present-day catastrophe.
Africa’s Syndemic: The Data Behind the Crisis
To ground his diagnosis in fact, Pastor Omoragbon presented chilling data on what he termed “Africa’s Syndemic”—a convergence of health and environmental crises.
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Climate-Health Catastrophe: He revealed that Africa suffers 4 to 7 times the global mortality from climate-linked diseases despite minimal emissions.
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Malaria incidence in the East African highlands rose by a staggering 37% between 2010 and 2024 due to warming, reversing decades of progress (WHO).
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Hospitalizations for heat stroke in Sahel nations increased by 214% since 2018, disproportionately affecting pregnant women and infants (The Lancet, 2024).
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Nutritional Collapse: Erratic rainfall has led to widespread crop failures, elevating severe child wasting rates to 28.1% in the Horn of Africa—the highest globally (UNICEF, 2025).
The Unseen Epidemic: When the Ocean Gets Sick
The health of the ocean, he argued, is inextricably linked to the health of the people.
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Fisheries Collapse: Fish stocks have declined 40-60% along the West African coast since 2000, causing a 22% rise in child anemia in fishing communities (FAO).
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Toxic Seafood: Mercury levels in Ghanaian fish have been found to exceed WHO limits by 800%, causing developmental disabilities in one-third of coastal newborns (Ghana Health Services, 2024).
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Pathogen Explosion: In Tanzania, vibrio bacterial infections increased 300% after coral die-offs disrupted natural water filtration.
Structural Failures: A Crisis of Governance
These devastating health impacts are compounded by systemic failures in governance. Pastor Omoragbon identified a “silo syndrome” plaguing African policy, where government ministries fail to connect environmental data to health outcomes.
He provided two stark examples:
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The Nigerian Flood: When Nigeria’s maritime agency predicted severe flooding, no plan was made to evacuate vulnerable populations. The government’s response was reactive—distributing food after the disaster—a stark contrast to the proactive evacuation of 200 patients from a New York hospital during a power failure, which resulted in zero deaths.
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Cyclone Idai in Mozambique: The fishing ministry detected contamination in shrimp harvests but failed to alert the health ministry, resulting in 8,000 preventable cases of cholera. The climate agency predicted the storm’s intensity but did not warn hospitals, leading to the destruction of 12 medical facilities.
The Blueprint for Integration: A Health-Ocean-Climate Nexus Framework
Moving from diagnosis to cure, Pastor Omoragbon presented the core of his proposal: a binding, integrated Health-Ocean-Climate Nexus Framework built on three pillars.
Pillar 1: Joint Vulnerability Assessment
This involves a proactive, data-driven approach to map risk.
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Methodology: Use the WHO’s Climate Vulnerability Index alongside the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Ocean Stress Indicator.
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Implementation: Deploy 500 nurse-led field teams to map connections between coastal water toxicity and child neurodevelopment, and between sea temperatures and diarrheal prevalence. This data would then be integrated into the African Union’s Continental Early Warning System.
Pillar 2: Cross-Ministerial Budgetary Integration
This pillar aims to break down the silos by mandating integrated budgeting.
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Proposal: Health ministries would allocate 45% of their budget to a “Health Adaptation Scorecard”; Environment ministries 30% to an “Ocean Health Index”; and Fisheries ministries 25% to a “Protein Security Dashboard” to track and mitigate child malnutrition.
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Success Story: He cited Kenya’s Climate-Health Hub, which in 2023 redirected $47 million from oil permits to build 38 solar-powered health clinics and restore 6,200 hectares of mangrove forests, reducing flood damage to clinics by 70%.
Pillar 3: Nurse-Deployed Early Warning Architecture
This pillar leverages healthcare professionals as frontline climate defenders.
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Initiative: Train and deploy 100,000 nurses by 2030—one for every 5,000 coastal residents—using a WHO-certified curriculum on climate and health.
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Technology: Develop a nurse-led mobile app for real-time reporting of events like fish kills (triggering toxin screening) or unusual rashes (triggering tests for oceanic pathogens).
Action Plan & Financing: Making the Framework a Reality
To fund this ambitious framework, Pastor Omoragbon detailed a robust action and financing plan.
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Mobile Ocean-Climate Clinics: Deploy solar-powered vessels with desalination units, portable labs, and satellite-linked telemedicine to reach remote communities.
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Debt-for-Health Swaps: Replicate the 2023 Cape Verde model, where Portugal forgave $150 million in debt in exchange for investment in an environmental and climate fund. This resulted in a 40% reduction in diarrheal diseases from cleaner water.
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Fossil Fuel Accountability Mechanism: Model a policy on Nigeria’s Oil Pollution Health Levy, which places a 7.5% tax on offshore oil profits to fund a Health Adaptation Fund.
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Carbon Tax on Ocean Polluters: Propose specific levies on the offshore oil and gas sector, commercial fishing, and plastic production to raise billions annually for health initiatives and microplastic filtration.
This detailed, evidence-backed plan moves beyond rhetoric, offering a concrete, fundable, and scalable “prescription for survival” for Africa and the world.
Watch the Full Keynote Address
To fully appreciate the depth and passion of this transformative proposal, we invite you to watch Pastor Peters Omoragbon’s complete keynote address. Witness firsthand the data, the arguments, and the unwavering commitment to healing our planet and our people.
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