Changes now to build resilience and avoid flood damage are cost effective, experts say
By Meghie Rodrigues
SAO PAULO, March 9 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Last December, when physician Victor Heitor Gomes became health director for Rafard, a municipality 150 km northwest of São Paulo, he knew he had a challenge ahead.
The only clinic in the town of 9,000 had been through hard times: heavy rains in mid-November caused part of a meeting room wall to collapse and a month later more rain flooded parts of the building, including the surgery room and common areas.
The problems forced the clinic to relocate some services to other rooms – and repairing the meter-long hole in the meeting room wall had to be put on hold because of ongoing rain in the Brazilian summer.
FEATURE-Going under? Brazil s hospitals at risk as climate change brings more floods
Extreme weather, like the floods that ravaged the Maria Tereza Apprilante Gimenez Basic Healthcare Unit in Rafard, are increasingly a threat throughout the region as climate change takes hold - and are creating an additional burden for health workers struggling to battle the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Pan American Health Organization, almost 70% of the 18,000 hospitals in Latin America and the Caribbean are located in areas highly vulnerable to floods, major earthquakes or hurricanes.Reuters | Brasilia | Updated: 09-03-2021 09:13 IST | Created: 09-03-2021 07:23 IST
Representative Image Image Credit: ANI
In December 2020, when physician Victor Heitor Gomes became the health director for Rafard, a municipality 150 kilometers northwest of São Paulo, he knew he had a challenge ahead.