International health ministers agreed to prioritize the development of climate-friendly healthcare systems and advocate for climate finance, at a meeting in New York on Monday.
Organized by the World Health Organization and the COP28 Presidency, health leaders discussed the dangerous intersection between climate and health, part of the kick-off events to New York Climate Week held annually during the United Nations General Assembly.
Climate Week New York is the largest annual climate event, pulling together some 400 events and activities across the city. The international NGO Climate Group organizes it with the UN and the City of New York.
The meeting was also meant to help leaders plan for the UN Climate Conference’s (COP28) first “Day of Health,” which will be held on December 3 in Dubai.
Israel’s Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman was in Washington on Monday, where she signed an MOU to cooperate on climate change with the US Environmental Protection Agency. She arrived in New York on Tuesday for the UNGA and to participate in additional meetings, including the SDG Summit on the global implementation of the UN’s sustainable development goals, a ministerial gathering on biodiversity, and a discussion on food systems.
Silman will also meet with counterparts and other stakeholders to discuss collaboration at COP28.
“The most compelling reasons for climate action are not in the future – they’re right here and right now,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, on Monday. “The climate crisis drives the extreme weather that is taking lives around the world, fuels the spread of infectious and noncommunicable disease, and undermines food security.”
Devastating statistics: One in four deaths caused by preventable environmental factors
During the event, the leaders reviewed a series of devastating statistics, such as that one in four deaths can be attributed to preventable environmental causes, according to WHO, and that at least 250,000 people are dying every year due to climate change.
Disastrous floods in eastern Libya this month have taken the lives of 4,000 people, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Another 9,000 remain missing.
Last year’s extreme heat wave in Europe claimed the lives of more than 60,000 people, a report by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) showed earlier this year, with the continent on track to see as many as 120,000 heat-related deaths by 2050.
"Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, air pollution, wildfires, and compromised water, land, and food security result in lives lost and negatively impact infectious diseases, heat-related illnesses, noncommunicable diseases, and adverse pregnancy outcomes."
WHO
“Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, air pollution, wildfires, and compromised water, land, and food security result in lives lost and negatively impact infectious diseases, heat-related illnesses, noncommunicable diseases, and adverse pregnancy outcomes,” WHO said.
Furthermore, according to projections by the World Bank, up to 132 million individuals are anticipated to be pushed below the poverty line due to the direct health consequences of climate change by 2030. An estimated 1.2 billion people could face displacement by 2050 due to these climate-related challenges.
“Climate change is the biggest threat to health in the 21st century, and our very survival is at stake,” said Dr. Vanessa Kerry, WHO director-general special envoy for climate change and health. “We can no longer afford to suffer from the pandemic of poor and expedient choices which continue to harm our planet and its population.
“We must invest in human well-being, such as resilient health systems that can ensure adaptation to the growing burdens of disease and impacts of extreme weather and heat that are killing us daily.”
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