London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

The World Health Organization has published its 2021 WHO Health and Climate Change Global Survey Report, finding that over three quarters of surveyed countries have developed or are currently developing national health and climate change plans or strategies, but report that a lack of funding, the impact of COVID-19, and insufficient human resource capacity are major barriers to progress.

Professor Alan Dangour, Director of the Centre on Climate Change and Planetary Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: “This report identifies many global advances in incorporating the potential impacts of climate change into national health planning, and an increased recognition of the significant benefits to health that would accrue from rapid action on climate change. 

“However, while health is now firmly on the climate agenda, it does identify some concerning gaps – most pressingly that the majority of countries have yet to consider how their healthcare systems will respond to the impacts of climate change on population health. There is worryingly insufficient financing, human capacity and research evidence available to deliver national health and climate change plans.”