Preparing for El Niño Climate and Health Responder Course: Disaster Risk Reduction and Adaptation in the Americas and the Caribbean

This session introduces the climate-health nexus and the core concepts and frameworks that underpin climate and health risk reduction in the Americas and the Caribbean, including the principles of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and their application to climate and health hazards. Participants will explore how hazards, exposure, vulnerability, resilience, adaptive capacity, and risk interact to shape climate-related health impacts, and how social, economic, environmental, and governance conditions influence unequal exposure and vulnerability across populations and territories. The session examines major climate-sensitive health risks affecting the region, including the role of poverty, inequities, unplanned urbanization, environmental degradation, and governance challenges in amplifying disaster and health risks.

Learning outcomes:

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Explain how climate change influences the frequency, intensity, and patterns of climate-related hazards

2. Describe the major climate-related hazards in the Americas and the Caribbean and their correlated health impacts

3. Identify the importance of interpreting climate evidence and data uncertainty carefully to support informed preparedness, adaptation, and public health decision-making

4. Explain how climate variability and recurrent climate-related hazards influence vulnerability, resilience, and adaptive capacity over time

5. Analyze how social, economic, demographic, environmental, and governance factors influence population exposure and vulnerability to climate-related hazards

6. Compare the conceptual frameworks of Climate Change Adaptation, Disaster Risk Reduction, and Health Emergency Management to demonstrate how their integration via the WHO Operational Framework for Building Climate-Resilient and Low-Carbon Health Systems drives risk-informed, climate-resilient health system planning

7. Explain the goals, targets, priorities for action, and guiding principles of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and differentiate hazard, exposure, vulnerability, capacity, resilience, and risk

This session introduces the disaster risk management approach and its application to climate-related health risks. Participants will examine how risk assessment, risk management, risk reduction, preparedness and readiness, early and anticipatory action, response, recovery, and post-event evaluation work together to reduce health risks before, during, and after climate-related emergencies. The session also explores cross-cutting capacities that support implementation across all phases, including monitoring and surveillance, early warning systems, emergency coordination, workforce readiness, and multisectoral collaboration, as well as climate and health risk communication and behavioral responses that encourage protective action.

Learning outcomes:

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Define risk and explain how climate and health vulnerability and risk assessments inform disaster risk management and climate adaptation planning

2. Explain the principles of disaster risk reduction and their application to climate-related health risks using coordinated, multihazard, and risk-informed approaches

3. Explain how disaster risk management supports climate adaptation by strengthening health system resilience and reducing climate-related health risks

4. Explain the multisectoral governance and cross-cutting functional capacities that enable health authorities, meteorological services, emergency agencies, and civil society actors to collectively drive disaster risk management across all phases of the disaster continuum

5. Describe the disaster risk management approach and explain how each phase contributes to reducing health risks and strengthening resilience

6. Explain how climate and health risk communication, risk perception, and behavioral responses influence preparedness, protective action, and community resilience

7. Evaluate how integrating "Build Back Better" and resilient recovery strategies with continuous learning processes drives climate resilience and can reduce future disaster-related health vulnerabilities

This session examines the growing impacts of extreme heat in urban environments and explores how cities can strengthen preparedness, reduce exposure, and protect vulnerable communities through risk-informed planning, early warning systems, and effective public communication strategies. Through an assessment of trends in heatwaves and mortality and morbidity rates, the session explores how heat impacts health, particularly for vulnerable populations, and how it creates additional hazards that disrupt access to essential infrastructure and basic services. The session also examines urban adaptation interventions and heat-health governance and policy implementation.

Learning outcomes:

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Describe the direct and indirect health risks associated with extreme heat, including heat-related illnesses, exacerbation of chronic diseases, occupational health risks, injuries, mental health effects, and other societal impacts

2. Explain how urbanization, land use, social inequities, and climate change contribute to increasing heat risks and vulnerability in cities

3. Explain how heat risk mapping, vulnerability assessments, and multisectoral collaboration support the identification of priority populations and inform equitable heat adaptation planning

4. Describe the key components of Heat Action Plans, including heat-health early warning systems, preparedness strategies, identification of priority populations, community participation, and intersectoral coordination

5. Describe the disaster risk management cycle for extreme heat and explain how each phase strengthens resilience

6. Identify city-level adaptation measures that reduce heat exposure and strengthen resilience, including urban greening, nature-based solutions, cooling infrastructure, and risk-informed urban planning

7. Explain how risk communication and community engagement—including official communication channels, mass media, social media, and artificial intelligence—support timely heat-health warnings and strengthen public preparedness

This session focuses on strengthening the resilience of health systems, health facilities, and the health workforce to extreme heat events. Participants will explore how increasing temperatures and more frequent heatwaves can disrupt health service delivery, increase patient demand, affect occupational safety, and strain energy and water systems. The session introduces practical approaches for strengthening heat preparedness and operational continuity across healthcare settings, including heat-health surveillance and forecasting tools, facility-level adaptation measures, and equity-centered preparedness approaches.

Learning outcomes:

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Describe how extreme heat can affect health systems, healthcare infrastructure, workforce safety, and continuity of essential health services

2. Explain how social vulnerability, inequities, and differential heat exposure can influence healthcare demand and health outcomes during extreme heat events

3. Explain the role of heat-health surveillance, forecasting, and early warning systems in supporting public health preparedness and healthcare operations

4. Describe the disaster risk management cycle for extreme heat in health facilities and explain how each phase strengthens climate-resilient health services

5. Identify adaptation measures that can strengthen health facility resilience to extreme heat, including cooling strategies, energy resilience, emergency planning, and occupational protection measures

6. Describe the competencies required for healthcare workers, facility managers, and emergency personnel to prevent, identify, manage, and respond to heat-related health risks

7. Describe the importance of coordination among healthcare institutions, public health agencies, emergency management systems, and communities in responding to heat-related health risks

This session examines how climate change, land-use change, and environmental degradation are increasing wildfire risk and smoke exposure across the Americas and the Caribbean. Participants will explore the health impacts of wildfire smoke and poor air quality, particularly among children, older persons, people with disabilities and chronic diseases, and outdoor workers. The session focuses on city-level adaptation and risk reduction measures, including wildfire risk mapping, fuel management, air quality monitoring, early warning systems, clean air shelters, and community preparedness planning.

Learning outcomes:

1. Explain how climate change, land-use change, and environmental conditions contribute to wildfire and smoke risks and associated population vulnerability

2. Describe the health impacts of wildfire smoke and poor air quality, particularly among vulnerable and highly exposed populations

3. Describe how the disaster risk management cycle applies to wildfire and smoke events to reduce health risks and strengthen community resilience

4. Identify city-level wildfire and smoke risk reduction and preparedness measures, including fuel management, risk-informed urban planning, air quality monitoring and early warning, and clean-air spaces

5. Explain how risk communication and community engagement support timely warnings, protective actions, and public preparedness before and during wildfire and smoke events

This session focuses on strengthening health system resilience to wildfire smoke and air pollution events. Participants will examine how smoke events affect healthcare demand, facility operations, workforce safety, and continuity of essential services, including preparedness measures such as indoor air quality management, filtration systems, smoke preparedness plans, surge capacity planning, and occupational protection. Special attention is given to protecting healthcare facilities, schools, long-term care facilities, and other critical services during prolonged smoke events.

Learning outcomes:

1. Describe how wildfire smoke and poor air quality affect healthcare delivery, health system operations, workforce safety, and continuity of essential health services

2. Describe how the disaster risk management cycle applies to wildfire smoke events in health facilities to strengthen resilient health service delivery

3. Identify monitoring, early warning, adaptation, and preparedness measures that strengthen health facility resilience, including air quality monitoring and forecasting, ventilation and filtration, and continuity planning

4. Describe the competencies required for healthcare workers and facility personnel to identify and manage smoke-related illnesses and maintain safe, essential health services

5. Explain how coordination among healthcare facilities, public health agencies, emergency management, environmental and air quality authorities, and communities supports preparedness and response to wildfire smoke events

This session examines the growing health risks of floods and other hydro-meteorological hazards across the Americas and the Caribbean, particularly in urban and coastal settings and among populations experiencing greater social vulnerability. Participants will explore how climate change, urbanization, environmental degradation, land-use patterns, and social inequities shape flood exposure and vulnerability. The session introduces flood preparedness and early warning approaches, city-level risk reduction and adaptation measures, and examines how risk communication, trust, and misinformation influence responses to warnings and evacuation messages.

Learning outcomes:

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Explain how climate change, urbanization, environmental degradation, land-use patterns, and social vulnerability contribute to flood risk in the Region of the Americas

2. Describe the immediate and longer-term health impacts of floods, including injuries, displacement, mental health impacts, waterborne and vector-borne diseases, and disruptions to essential services

3. Describe how the disaster risk management cycle applies to flood events at the city and community levels to reduce health risks and strengthen community resilience

4. Describe city-level flood risk reduction and adaptation measures, including drainage infrastructure, flood risk mapping, nature-based solutions, and risk-informed land-use planning

5. Identify approaches to protect populations at greater risk and strengthen community preparedness, including early warning systems, impact-based forecasting, and accessible alerts

6. Explain how risk communication, community engagement, trust, risk perception, misinformation control, and multisectoral coordination influence protective actions and effective flood preparedness and response

This session focuses on strengthening the resilience of health facilities and the preparedness of the health workforce to respond to floods and associated health emergencies. Participants will examine how floods can disrupt healthcare delivery through damage to infrastructure, loss of electricity and water services, supply chain interruptions, and contamination risks. The session explores strategies for climate-resilient health facility planning, workforce preparedness for managing flood-related injuries and diseases, and the importance of surveillance and integrated preparedness planning.

Learning outcomes:

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Describe how floods affect health facilities, healthcare delivery, infrastructure, supply chains, workforce safety, and continuity of essential health services

2. Explain how flood risk assessments and mapping of critical healthcare facilities can identify vulnerabilities and inform measures to maintain essential health services

3. Describe how the disaster risk management cycle applies to flood events in health facilities to strengthen health facility resilience and continuity of essential services

4. Identify measures to strengthen health facility resilience and operational continuity, including protection of water and sanitation, electricity, communications, and medical supplies

5. Describe the workforce and public health capacities required to manage flood-related injuries, infectious diseases, mental health impacts, and post-flood risk communication

6. Explain how workforce training, simulation exercises, and multisectoral coordination strengthen health system preparedness and response to flood-related emergencies

Course resumes November 24

This session examines the health risks associated with hurricanes and tropical cyclones and how changing storm characteristics—including rapid intensification, heavier rainfall, stronger winds, and slower-moving storms—can challenge existing preparedness and response plans. Participants will explore hurricane-related health impacts, vulnerable populations, early warning and evacuation systems, and city-level risk reduction and preparedness measures, with attention to translating rapidly evolving forecasts into timely public health actions and effective community communication.

Learning outcomes:

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Explain how changing hurricane characteristics—including rapid intensification, stronger winds, heavier rainfall, storm surge, and slower-moving storms—affect health risks and challenge preparedness and response

2. Describe the direct and indirect health impacts of hurricanes, including injuries, displacement, mental health impacts, infectious disease risks, and disruptions to essential services

3. Describe how the disaster risk management cycle applies to hurricane events at the city and community levels to reduce health risks and strengthen resilience

4. Identify city-level preparedness and risk reduction measures, including risk and vulnerability assessment, early warning systems, evacuation planning, and multisectoral emergency coordination

5. Explain how risk communication and community engagement can translate rapidly evolving hurricane forecasts and warnings into timely, accessible, and actionable protective measures

6. Evaluate lessons from hurricane events—including failures of plans, infrastructure, and underlying assumptions—to identify opportunities for improving preparedness, recovery, and future resilience

This session focuses on strengthening health facility resilience and workforce readiness before, during, and after hurricanes. Participants will explore how hurricanes affect healthcare delivery through infrastructure damage, flooding, power and water outages, supply chain disruptions, and increased healthcare demand. The session discusses continuity of operations planning, workforce preparedness, and post-event health risks, and explores how Build Back Better principles can support recovery and strengthen long-term health system resilience.

Learning outcomes:

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Describe how hurricanes affect health facility infrastructure, operations, supply chains, workforce safety, and continuity of essential health services

2. Describe how the disaster risk management cycle applies to hurricane events in health facilities to maintain essential services and strengthen health facility resilience

3. Identify measures to strengthen health facility preparedness and operational continuity, including resilient infrastructure and utilities, emergency supplies, patient evacuation, and surge capacity

4. Describe the workforce and public health capacities required to manage hurricane-related health impacts, including injuries, infectious disease risks, mental health impacts, and surveillance

5. Explain how post-event evaluation, service restoration, and Build Back Better principles can address identified failures and strengthen the resilience and sustainability of health facilities following hurricanes

This session examines the growing impacts of drought, water insecurity, and prolonged climate stress on health systems and population health across the Americas and the Caribbean. Participants will explore how climate change, changing precipitation patterns, environmental degradation, and increasing pressure on water and food systems are intensifying drought risks and affecting health, livelihoods, nutrition, mental health, and community resilience, as well as preparedness and adaptation strategies that strengthen health system resilience to prolonged drought conditions.

Learning outcomes:

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Explain the role of water security planning in strengthening health system preparedness, response capacity, and continuity of essential services during drought conditions

• Describe how drought risk assessments can identify vulnerable populations, health risks, and critical infrastructure exposed to water insecurity and prolonged drought

• Explain actions like mapping water sources, identifying storage capacities and water supply agreements, and conservation protocols in relation to community preparedness

• Describe the direct and indirect health impacts associated with drought, including dehydration, malnutrition, mental health impacts, migration, infectious diseases, and disruptions to sanitation and healthcare services

• Identify key preparedness and adaptation measures that can strengthen health system resilience during prolonged drought conditions

• Discuss the importance of multisectoral coordination among health, water, agriculture, environmental, disaster management, and social protection sectors in reducing drought-related health risks and strengthening long-term resilience

Climate-related disasters rarely occur in isolation. A single event can trigger cascading impacts across health, water and sanitation, energy, transportation, supply chains, food systems, and healthcare services, while also increasing secondary risks such as infectious diseases, landslides, displacement, and disruptions to essential care. This session examines how cascading and compounding risks develop and how failures in one system can generate consequences across others, including how post-disaster recovery and Build Back Better approaches can reduce future risks rather than restore previous vulnerabilities.

Learning outcomes:

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Explain how climate hazards can generate cascading and compounding health risks through disruptions to water and sanitation, energy, transportation, healthcare, and food systems

2. Describe secondary and downstream health impacts following climate-related disasters, including infectious disease risks, landslides, displacement, and deterioration of water, sanitation, and hygiene conditions

3. Analyze how interdependencies among health facilities, utilities, transportation, supply chains, and other critical systems can amplify or reduce health impacts during climate-related emergencies

4. Explain how repeated or overlapping climate events can progressively reduce coping and adaptive capacity and identify circumstances in which existing adaptation measures may become insufficient

5. Identify adaptation and preparedness approaches that anticipate cascading failures, protect essential services, strengthen redundancy, and reduce vulnerabilities across interconnected systems

6. Explain how recovery, post-event learning, and Build Back Better approaches can address underlying vulnerabilities and support more resilient and adaptive health systems and communities

This session examines how climate change, climate variability, and extreme events influence the transmission, distribution, and seasonality of vector-borne and other climate-sensitive infectious diseases in the Americas and the Caribbean. Participants will explore how heat, changing rainfall, floods, droughts, environmental change, and population displacement can increase risks of diseases such as dengue, malaria, Zika, chikungunya, leptospirosis, cholera, rabies, and tetanus, and how climate-informed surveillance, early warning, One Health approaches, and health-system preparedness can strengthen prevention and response.

Learning outcomes:

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Explain how climate change, climate variability, and extreme events influence the transmission, distribution, and seasonality of vector-borne and other climate-sensitive infectious diseases

• Describe key challenges in surveillance, diagnostics, laboratory capacity, and differential diagnosis for emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases

• Explain how climate-informed surveillance and early warning systems can support outbreak prevention, preparedness, and response

• Identify strategies to strengthen disease surveillance, outbreak preparedness, and health-system response, particularly following climate-related disasters

• Explain the role of One Health, multisectoral collaboration, risk communication, community engagement, and workforce preparedness in preventing and controlling climate-sensitive infectious diseases

This session explores the governance and multisectoral coordination mechanisms needed to strengthen climate and health resilience and integrate climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and health emergency and disaster management across the Americas and the Caribbean. Participants will examine how climate-related health risks require coordinated action across health systems, disaster management agencies, urban planning sectors, finance ministries, academia, civil society, and affected communities. Multilateral, national, and subnational case studies illustrate how these components can be integrated within health plans—from risk reduction and adaptation to preparedness, emergency response, recovery, and post-event learning.

Learning outcomes:

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Describe governance structures and institutional approaches that support climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction, health emergency management, and climate-health resilience

2. Explain the role of national and subnational health and adaptation planning and multisectoral coordination in strengthening preparedness and resilience to climate-related health risks

3. Analyze examples of how climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction, emergency preparedness and response, recovery, and post-event learning are integrated within health plans and coordinated across multilateral, national, and subnational levels

4. Discuss the role of monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and data systems in assessing implementation, recovery, and informing continuous improvement

5. Describe how equity, climate justice, Indigenous and local knowledge, and community-centered approaches can strengthen climate-health governance and adaptation

6. Identify opportunities for collaboration among health authorities, disaster management agencies, urban planning and finance sectors, academia, civil society, communities, and other stakeholders to support integrated climate-health action