World Health Organization

Tamyka SteinbeckLaura BarlowThomas CaddellBrittany DeWitt

About WHOWHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations’ system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends. In the 21st century, health is a shared responsibility, involving equitable access to essential care and collective defense against transnational threats.

AgendaPromoting development

fostering health security

strengthening health systems

harnessing research, information and evidence

enhancing partnerships

improving performance

WHO on global climate change and human healthClimate variability and change cause death and disease

through natural disasters, such as heat waves, floods and droughts. In addition, many important diseases are highly sensitive to changing temperatures and precipitation. These include common vector- borne diseases such as malaria and dengue; as well as other major killers such as malnutrition and diarrhea. Climate change already contributes to the global burden of disease, and this contribution is expected to grow in the future.

Strategy on health protectionFrom global climate changeWHO is currently developing a global strategy that outlines the overarching framework for the international response to protect health from climate change. This is being led by WHO and partners in the health sector, and will be coordinated with the efforts of UN and other partner agencies. 

WHO role within the UNresponse to climate change

WHO represents the health community at the international level, and contributes to the overall UN system-wide response by providing health expertise to the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC, by participating in the UNFCCC Nairobi Work Program on Impacts, vulnerability and adaptation, and by working with other specialized agencies and program, such as WMO, UNEP and UNDP, on capacity building and implementation projects

Promoting protectionand public health

Many of the decisions that affect climate change also have direct implications for human health. WHO is working to highlight "win-win" situations where sustainable development choices can at the same time reduce our impact on the global climate, and improve public health, for example through reducing outdoor and indoor air pollution.

Regional workshops onhealth and climate change

Since 2000 WHO has convened intersectoral government partners at 9 workshops to bring awareness to the impacts of climate change, and share experiences on assessing and addressing climate risks to health. This series of workshops focused on particularly climate sensitive and vulnerable nations within WHO regions. Each workshop has been an important forum not only to raise awareness, but to gain the input of member states on how to address the additional health risks posed by climate change. It has allowed countries to understand and take stock of their national and regional health vulnerabilities and identify their capacity building, information and resource strengths and needs. This provides a firm basis for future protective actions.

Piloting health and climate adaptations:

GEF ProjectWHO is partnering with the United Nations Development Program(UNDP) in a new project to pilot approaches to protect health under a changing and more variable climate, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The project is working in seven countries distributed throughout the world, showing a wide variety of health vulnerabilities to climatic conditions.

Evidence and informationfor action

Beginning in 1990, WHO has published reports describing and evaluating the evidence for health risks from climate change and climate variability. The program now increasingly focuses on making this information available to the most vulnerable countries, producing technical resources to carry out health vulnerability assessments, and identifying and supporting public health protection within their own national context.

Monitoring and EvaluationAs countries begin to implement actions to protect health from climate change, it will become increasingly important to monitor and evaluate programs to ensure that they are both effective and timely. WHO is committed to developing monitoring and evaluation frameworks that include both process measures, such as success in raising awareness or coverage of interventions for climate-sensitive diseases, and outcomes, in terms of success in improving population health. These should be integrated within basic health monitoring systems, and be coordinated with systems used to measure success in addressing climate change and achieving sustainable development goals in other sectors.

• Seminars•Advertisements•Commercials•Posters•World Health Day theme•Published reports