📋 Tender Overview
The Pacific is home to the El Niño Southern Oscillation, which has major impacts on the weather conditions in the Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs). The current situation is that of a major El Niño phase which strongly impacts the rainfall pattern of the Western Pacific, with many PICTs exposed to drought conditions. At the same time some PICTs in the Eastern Pacific face higher levels of rainfall, which can have impacts on health due to flooding.
Droughts have been declared in multiple PICTs over the past 2 years including Kiribati, FSM, Tonga, Tuvalu. PICTs are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of severe drought due to the following factors:
reliance on surface water and rainfall
changes to water table due to water use and land use
diminished agricultural capacity may lead to changes to food security in country and in downstream markets
high prevalence of non-communicable diseases
limited nutritional surveillance across PICTs
The aim of this advisory is to highlight the risks to human health during severe drought conditions and to ensure that PICT health systems are prepared and able to respond appropriately. Health risks linked to freshwater scarcity: quantity and quality
The first and major impact of drought for people is a stress on freshwater quantity, as well as quality. This stress on freshwater has both direct and indirect impacts on health. The map below shows water stress alerts for parts of Palau, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Marshall Islands, PNG, Tuvalu, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, Wallis and Futuna, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Niue, southern Cook Islands, Austral Islands, Tuamotu Archipelago and Pitcairn Islands during the period October to December 2023.
