ASHENEWS reports that the World Health Assembly is set to consider its first resolution on climate and health in 2024.
The Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom stated this while speaking during the opening ceremony of the Health Day at the ongoing 28th session of the UN Climate Change Conference of Parties in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Speaking on the relevance of the summit to advancing climate action to boost health, Adhanom said that health can be a game changer for climate action.
“We can’t make good health in a world with frequent heat waves, wildfires, floods, and droughts with increasing rising temperatures and spread of infectious diseases, destruction of harvest, and increasing water scarcity.
The WHO DG stressed that a strong link exists between health and climate change.
“The same air pollution that causes climate change is associated with seven million deaths yearly.
“Our addiction to oil, gas, and coal is not just an act of environmental vandalism, for the health perspective, it is an act of self-sabotage.”
He said that countries and their partners must work to urgently scale up climate financing and support affected communities to adapt to the new realities.
Soaking earlier, the COP28 Presidency Chair, Dr Sultan Al-Jaber said that climate change has grown beyond extreme heat and floods to impacting food, water, and clean air systems.
“WHO estimates that seven million could be attributed to air pollution, with vulnerable groups likely to suffer more. We must therefore find a way to enhance climate health interventions.”
He announced that the COP28 Presidency had received 123 commitments from countries ready to sign the UAE declaration on climate and health.
Speaking on the declaration, he said “The declaration seeks to increase gross sector collaboration, reduce emissions in the sector, and increase climate health financing.”
