NIMET Exposes Climate Change Induced Health Risks

Chinedu Eze

Climate change is intensifying public health risks, including heat stress, airborne infections and vector-borne diseases.

This has attracted a meeting of local and international agencies to deliberate on how to tackle the problem, especially on how to build climate-resilient health systems informed by inclusive early warning and risk management services.

The meeting which took place earlier in the week, was a three-day workshop hosted by the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) in its Lagos training school.

It brought together key national and international agencies to share expertise and co-develop a multi-hazard early warning system for Nigeria.

Experts observed that climate change is intensifying public health risks, including heat stress, airborne infections, and vector-borne diseases. While National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) provide climate risk information to the health sector, gaps remain in integrated surveillance, coordinated planning, and evidence-based decision-making.

So, the workshop was a significant step toward closing these gaps and strengthening climate services for the health sector. The participants pushed that weather and climate information must be translated into actionable guidance for health agencies and communities and called for effective collaboration between meteorological, hydrological, health institutions, which are essential for building a weather-resilient health sector.

The Director General of NiMet, Professor Charles Anosike, in his opening remarks at the workshop reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to strengthening weather and climate information services as a critical pillar for public health protection.

Anosike who was represented by Mrs. Glory Onyegbule, said: “Building an efficient early warning system is not just a scientific responsibility; it is a national imperative. Through collaboration with the health sector and strategic partners (national and international), we are working to ensure that timely, accurate, and impact-based forecasts translate into early action that saves lives and safeguard livelihoods across Nigeria. Together, we can transform climate intelligence into resilience for healthier communities nationwide.”

Resource persons observed that the impacts of climate change, pollution, and ecosystem degradation are already driving respiratory illnesses, water- and vector-borne diseases, food insecurity, and disaster-related health risks in Nigeria. This underscores the urgent need to build climate-resilient health systems informed by inclusive early warning and risk management services.

In 2025, the Nigerian government published the third Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC 3.0), which calls for, “Delivering a national integrated climate change, health and environmental early warning system with implementation in at least 18 states by 2030.”

So, the National Early Warning Services for Health (WISER) workshop marks an important first step toward this goal, bringing together key national agencies to share expertise and co-develop a multi-hazard early warning system for Nigeria.

The workshop was hosted by NiMet in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA), the National Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA), and the National Orientation Agency (NOA).

The workshop embodied a truly cross-sectoral collaboration with additional representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, and the Lagos State Government also contribute to the effort.

A community-level survey conducted across Nigeria’s regions provided activities for the workshop and trainings, ensuring that early warning services were people-led and tailored to the needs of the most vulnerable Nigerians.

There was also effective cross-sectoral coordination, which was at the heart of NiMet and its partners’ efforts to co- produce an early warning service for health that was usable, useful, and inclusive of all Nigerian society.

International experts were invited to share policy and operational experience, including representatives from the UK Government, the UK Met Office, the Rockefeller Foundation, the World Bank, the World Meteorological Organization, the World Health Organization, and the UK Health Security Agency. This workshop is part of WISER Health (Weather and Climate Information Services for Health), a global initiative co-funded by the UK and Rockefeller Foundation, with the Met Office leading implementation.

Head of Health at the British High Commission in Abuja, Juliet Whitley, said:

“Nigeria is leading the way in developing an early warning system that will better enable its health sector to prepare for and respond to extreme weather. The UK is proud to support Nigeria’s commitment to building a health system that is more resilient to climate change.”

Director and Head of Climate Change and Environmental Health Division, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Zakariya Mohammed, stated: “With the integration of health considerations into Nigeria’s recently submitted NDC 3.0, this workshop provides an excellent starting point for collaborative efforts toward establishing an operational early warning system for climate and health in Nigeria.”

Chief Disaster Risk Reduction Officer and Climate Change Desk Officer at NEMA, Isa Abulkasir, added: “As Nigeria integrates health into its NDC 3.0 framework, this workshop offers a timely opportunity to advance our collaborative efforts toward a climate-resilient health system. NEMA is committed to leveraging climate information and early warning systems to mitigate health risks, enhance community resilience, and reduce the impact of climate-sensitive diseases and disasters—building a safer, more resilient future for all Nigerians.”

The Weather and Climate Information Services (WISER) programme is managed by Met Office, the UK’s national weather and climate service, and funded by the UK government’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). WISER is a global initiative aimed at enhancing the quality, accessibility, and use of forecasts and warnings. Since its inception in 2015, WISER has focused on regions disproportionately affected by extreme weather, seasonal variability, and climate change, including Africa, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and Asia-Pacific. 

The Met Office’s core principle is that weather and climate science and data have no tangible value until it is used to inform action. This happens when the information is accessible, understandable, and tailored to users. In the context of WISER, this means placing users and communities—each with varying vulnerabilities—at the heart of service design through facilitated co-production. 

WISER pioneered this approach, enabling over 3.3 million households to access enhanced forecast services and make informed decisions to strengthen their resilience. The programme has delivered at least £200 million in socioeconomic benefits. 

Partnership is also central to WISER. The programme has cultivated strong relationships with stakeholders at global, regional, national, and local levels. It works with mandated meteorological services, their counterparts in disaster risk management, and a broad community of implementers and users of weather and climate information. The WISER methodology has been successfully tested in a variety of challenging contexts—including fragile and conflict-affected states—and has stimulated innovation in the weather and climate services space through small granting initiatives.  

Climate change is intensifying health risks (e.g., heat stress, vector-borne diseases). And while 74 per cent of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) report sharing climate risk intelligence with the health sector, only 23% of health agencies use this data to drive integrated surveillance, planning and decision-making for climate-sensitive health risks such as heat stress and vector-borne diseases.