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This policy document contains a declaration by the Health Ministers of the WHO’s South-East Asia Region on the impacts of climate change on human health. In the declaration, the Ministers express concern that potential adverse impacts on health could overwhelm the response capacity of the health sector and could jeopardize progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. In response to this challenge, Ministers commit to a number of specific actions, listed in the document.

This visual aid document consists of a series of posters on climate change and health.

This technical document contains a general description of the health impacts of climate change and possible adaptation measures. Adaptation is a key response strategy to minimize potential impacts of climate change. A primary objective of adaptation is the reduction, with the least cost, of death, disease, disability and human suffering. The ability to adapt to climate change, and specifically the impacts on health, will depend on many factors including existing infrastructure, resources, technology, information and the level of equity in different countries and regions.

This article (on page 4 of the newsletter) is a review of the potential health effects of desertification and drought. It discusses issues of malnutrition, water, food borne and other infectious diseases, as well as respiratory diseases and burning injuries.

This technical document reviews current knowledge about the effects of heat-waves, includes recommendations for preventive action and identifies measures for reducing heat-related mortality and morbidity such as heat health warning systems and appropriate urban planning and housing design.

This technical document collects case studies, research and experiences on the health impacts of climatic events. This book shows the efforts made by the public health and environment communities to evaluate the effectiveness of the responses to the crises, to assess the early warning systems in place, and to use the lessons learnt to better tailor future activities.

This policy document offers a brief summary of the results of the research project “climate change and adaptation strategies for human health” (cCASHh), coordinated by WHO and supported by the European Commission. cCASHh identified a range of options that have been taken or could be taken by European policy-makers to prevent, prepare and respond to the effects of weather and climate variability on people’s health.

This policy document presents the full results of a three-year European collaborative project on climate change and adaptation strategies for human health (cCASHh). This project was the result of the third Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health discussions among European ministers of health and the environment who acknowledged that human-induced changes in the global climate system and in stratospheric ozone pose a range of severe health risks and potentially threaten economic development and social and political stability.

This technical document introduces the Lyme borreliosis (LB). This is the most common vector-borne disease in Europe, caused by a bacterium which is transmitted to humans by ticks. As ticks are highly sensitive to changes in seasonal climate, climate-induced changes can influence human exposure to infected ticks and thus disease prevalence. Future climate change in Europe will facilitate a spread of LB into higher latitudes and altitudes, contributing to increased disease occurrence in endemic areas, while LB will disappear in areas that will become too hot and dry for tick survival.

This technical document is the report of a joint ECDC/WHO/EEA/JRC workshop held in Stockholm, Sweden, 29-30 March 2007. The aim of the meeting was to review evidence related to the implications of global climate and ecological change on the communicable disease burden of Europe, assess the preparedness of health systems, develop scientific advice, identify research needs, and make recommendations to Member States.

This analytical report examines recent threats to health security in the WHO European Region from communicable diseases, natural disasters, large-scale accidents, conflicts and complex emergencies and the potential future challenges from climate change. It reviews the lessons learned from past experience, the new framework offered by the revised International Health Regulations (2005), the need for strengthening health systems to manage crises and the importance of international partnerships for health security.

This technical document, a result of collaboration between WHO/Europe and the Italian Agency for Environmental Protection and Technical Services (APAT), is a preliminary evaluation of the Italian situation based on international and national literature and benefitting from expert advices. By assessing the potential risks of climate change to human health in Italy, it seeks to identify available adaptive and preventive measures and to suggest additional ones.

This technical document draws decision-makers’ attention to convincing evidence of climate-related health threats and to why and how they should be urgently addressed. It describes current and projected health effects and the challenges they present to health systems in the European Region, as well as practical guidance on action by individuals and countries.

This technical document underlines, through about 40 indicators, the consequences of observed and projected climatic changes, including an increased risk of floods and droughts, losses of biodiversity (marine, freshwater and terrestrial), adverse effects on human health, and damage to economic sectors.

This technical document introduces EuroHEAT, a project co-funded by the European Commission Directorate-General for Health and Consumers, aimed to improve public health responses to weather extremes and to heat-waves in particular. There is growing evidence from EuroHEAT that the effects of heat-wave days on mortality are greater, particularly among the elderly, when levels of ozone or particulate matter are high. A wide range of chronic diseases and medical treatments, social isolation and some types of occupation increase the risk of heat stress in individuals.

This technical document defines a framework for analysing and addressing the health sector’s climate footprint – including identifying seven aspects of a climate-friendly hospital. It also draws on a series of examples from around the world that demonstrate that the health sector is indeed already beginning to provide leadership in this most important area of concern to the global community.

This technical document presents the climate change and health research priorities identified by the World Health Assembly (WHA) in a recent resolution. It emphasizes that research on climate change and health must be placed more firmly within the overall context of improving global health, and health equity, rather than being considered as a stand-alone issue. Most of the health impacts of climate change arise as a result of the extension or amplification of existing health hazards.

This policy document is a summary of the book Climate Change and Human Health – Risks and Responses, published by WHO in collaboration with UNEP and WMO. The complete volume seeks to describe the context and process of global climate change, its actual or likely impacts on health, and how human societies and their governments should respond, with particular focus on the health sector.

This policy document presents the WHO workplan for Climate and Health, approved by World Health Assembly in November 2008. The workplan is a framework for action by the Secretariat, taking into account climates, cultures, socioeconomic development, health systems, health status and vulnerability across Member States. It was prepared through a consultative process, building on regional committee resolutions and regional frameworks for action, and further incorporating suggestions from Member States.

This activity report summarizes the main outcomes of the inter-regional workshop on the Human Health Impacts from Climate Variability and Climate Change in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya Region (India 2005). The objectives of the workshop were: to inform government organizations, nongovernmental organizations and other relevant stakeholders about the impacts of climate change; to Identify specific human health risks linked to climate variability and change in the Himalayan mountain regions; to propose strategies for integrating health with relevant sectors; to achieve consensus on a draft framework for national action in the Hindu  Kush-Himalayan mountain region.