The climate-ageing-infrastructure nexus: Protecting human health with climate-resilient prefab factories

June 2024 was the warmest June on record. May 2024 was the warmest May on record. The same goes for April, March, February… back to June 2023.

June 2024 was also the 12th consecutive month in which global temperatures reached 1.5°C above the pre-industrial average recorded between 1850 and 1900. Steady, undeniable progress towards a breach of the threshold set under the Paris Accord of 2015. Progress towards unleashing the worst imaginable impacts of climate change on human, animal, and environmental health.

Already, climate change is worsening the effects of floods, droughts, wildfires, heatwaves, and other extreme weather events. For every degree Celsius increase in average temperature, the Earth’s atmosphere gains the capacity to hold roughly 7% more moisture – this means heavier, more intense spells of rain. The intense rainfall in northern Libya in September 2023, the UAE and Oman in April 2024, and southern Brazil in May 2024 are all indications of new climactic patterns.

Heavier rainfall, however, is only one part of the evolving global climate. Hotter and longer heatwaves, longer droughts, and higher risk of wildfires are other pieces of the climate puzzle. Put together, the climate picture doesn’t inspire confidence, but there is only one effective approach: optimism. Optimism that not all is lost.

The Earth has crossed the 1.5°C threshold agreed upon in Paris in 2015, but a permanent breach of the limit involves long-term warming over two to three decades. As we rush to undo the catastrophic impacts of human activity on the climate, we notice that some people, some demographic groups, are more impacted by climate change than others. The best approach to maximising the benefits of climate-related interventions involves triage: prioritising the communities most vulnerable to climate shocks.

More older adults, more severe health consequences.

The global population is growing at a rapid pace. The global population is also ageing faster than ever before. By 2050, the proportion of the global population above the age of 60 years is predicted to nearly double. This means that roughly 21% of the global population will be in their later years. Over two-thirds of these older adults will be in low and middle income countries (LMICs) – where climate change is wreaking special havoc and infrastructure isn’t always able to cope with the pressures of extreme weather.

Now, climate change isn’t good for anyone’s health. Research has documented the systemic variation in risk based on gender, race, age, and socioeconomic conditions. But it is especially worrisome for the well-being of older populations.

More frequent and severe heat spells have disastrous effects on all age groups, but older adults tend to be more susceptible to hyperthermia. Common health conditions like cardiovascular disease are also exacerbated by heat stress, with extensive research showing the health and mortality risk of extreme heat on older adults.

As the global population ages and the Earth warms up simultaneously, a study published in Nature Communications in May 2024 reminds us that biologically and socially vulnerable hotspots are likely to emerge – hotspots with simultaneously increasing proportions of older adults and intensifying temperature extremes.

Poor infrastructure makes things worse.

Gender, race, and age influence the impacts of increasing temperatures on human well-being. However, the temperature impacts on human health are also a function of structural inequalities in income, living conditions, and access to health services.

Studies have shown that older adults who suffer from impairments (physical, sensory, or cognitive), economic disadvantages, social isolation, or who reside in substandard housing are particularly unable to tolerate or adapt to extreme temperatures. Extreme weather events like hurricanes have caused power outages, leading to deaths among older adults due to very high temperatures. A lack of air conditioning systems has left many to suffer and lose their lives to heatwaves. Droughts, floods, and heatwaves in resource-constrained areas also limit affected people’s access to basic health services and products.

Overall, poor infrastructure – in the health sector and beyond – dramatically impairs people’s ability to take care of themselves in the face of the climate threat.

Taking the fight to the climate-age-infrastructure nexus.

Scientists have found that population-level heat exposure will expand the fastest in the regions that match two criteria – regions forecasted to experience the most rapid relative growth in older population sizes and those with the largest temperature increases. Consequently, the associated demands on governments to develop targeted and adequate response systems and infrastructure will also be the greatest in these regions.

Nonetheless, the patterns of population ageing and global warming are heterogeneous across the globe. In the Global South, historically high fertility rates in developing countries have led to large but relatively young populations. On the other hand, in developed countries, largely in the Global North, below-replacement fertility rates and better access to modern medicine have resulted in ageing populations. As for average temperatures and emerging extremes – these vary considerably in different parts of the world.

When these conditions coincide in LMICs, it is a recipe for a disaster and a call to prioritise targeted action here. The ability to build adaptive capacity is largely correlated with income. So while it is critical to understand the overlap of these trends in high temperatures and ageing populations, it is also vital to assess where vulnerability to climate shocks is worsened by poor health infrastructure.

This infrastructure includes primary healthcare centres, diagnostic laboratories, inoculation suites, areas for research and development, and manufacturing facilities. And this infrastructure needs to be developed urgently and at locations where it is most needed. As the climate situation evolves and extreme weather events multiply, it is also critical to deploy such infrastructure rapidly, while allowing for adaptability and climate resilience.

Doing what we can to protect human health.

Prefabricated infrastructure, like PodTech™’s podules™, offers the perfect solution to the urgent need for biopharma facilities to fight the health effects of the climate crisis. Not only can they produce simple and complex health and pharma products but they are also resilient to the weather extremes that climate change has made increasingly common.

Steel construction, seismic design, and double insulation make the podules robust and weatherproof. Their ease of relocatability makes them ideal for rapid response to climate disasters. They also come pre-fitted with HVAC and fire suppression systems, making them particularly suited to extreme conditions.

In the fight against climate change, there is a lot that we can’t change. We cannot change the human activities that have led us to this point. Often, we cannot even protect people from or mitigate their exposure to heatwaves, floods, droughts, and the communicable and non-communicable diseases that result from these disasters.

What we can do, however, is invest in appropriate infrastructure to help people better recover from the health impacts of climate change. This includes improving access to health services and biopharma products for people in every corner of the world.

Prefabricated factory systems offer stakeholders in the health sector a unique opportunity to serve the people most vulnerable to disease during this climate crisis. Not deploying prefab pharma factory systems means unnecessary delays in reaching vulnerable people. It means allowing susceptible populations to suffer the worst effects of climate change. It means saying no to adaptability and climate resilience in the face of extreme weather events.

Partner with PodTech™ today to build a future in which everybody has an equal chance at fighting off the worst effects of climate change.