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Kiribati: Where planetary and public health collide

Médecins Sans Frontières/ Doctors Without Borders (MSF) officially launched medical activities in the equatorial Pacific island nation of Kiribati in October 2022. Our team there, including a paediatrician, midwife and general practitioner, support the Ministry of Health and Medical Services to improve maternal and neonatal health outcomes.

“Kiribati has one of the highest burdens of disease in the world, including the highest incidence of leprosy, one of the highest of TB and diabetes; and some of the lowest access to primary healthcare. There are clear needs here that are not being met,” says Alison Jones, MSF’s medical coordinator for Kiribati. On top of that, the environmental issues are significant, and growing.  

Kiribati is among the most climate-vulnerable places on earth.

Evidence of land shrinkage due to erosion is everywhere. In some places, uprooted trees lie where picnic spots and beaches once were. Homes are abandoned as the water comes closer and sandbags line the edges of the coast like chains of reinforcement. At full moon high tide, waves crash across the main causeway and flood homes.

Along with erosion, the salinisation of underground water sources and soil, warmer air temperatures, more frequent ‘king tides’ and drought are increasing. 

The climate crisis is a health crisis: human health is dependent on the health and sustainability of the environment. Nowhere is this more evident than for people living within the constraints of an island.

Seventy-five percent of deaths in the Pacific region are due to NCDs, and NCDs are now recognised as the leading cause of health problems in Kiribati. The rates of diabetes in Kiribati are high and increasing.

“Diabetes in pregnant women is of particular concern as the condition can be high risk for mums and babies, who require access to secondary (specialist) care for management during labour, delivery, and after birth,” says MSF’s project medical referent in Kiribati, midwife Sandra Sedlmaier-Ouattara.

MSF’s work in Kiribati aims initially to improve diabetes detection and management and hypertension related to maternal health in the Southern Gilbert Islands, based at Tabiteuea North.

MSBSTO33903

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The impact of the climate crisis on health in Kiribati - Social media - International

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The impact of the climate crisis on health in Kiribati - International

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The impact of the climate crisis on health in Kiribati - International

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The impact of the climate crisis on health in Kiribati - International

Kiribati: Where planetary and public health collide

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Kiribati: Collision of planetary and human health

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Kiribati: Where planetary and public health collide

The impact of the climate crisis on health in Kiribati - Social media - English

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The impact of the climate crisis on health in Kiribati - English

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Kiribati: Where planetary and public health collide

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Title Kiribati: Where planetary and public health collide

Unique Identifier Code / URN MSBSTO33903

Editor's rating ★★★★★ (C)

Date taken / Date Recorded 13/11/2022 12:00 AM

Sub type Standard Folder

Date taken / Date Recorded 13/11/2022 12:00 AM

Non communicable disease (NCD)

Planetary health