Climate change and health: Lessons learnt in the WHO European Region

2012

The Fifth Conference on Environment and Health in Parma, Italy (2010) endorsed the “Commitment to act”; this meeting reviewed implementation of this Commitment, exchanged experiences and knowledge, and charted next steps on the six action points. Key achievements observed since 2012 are the growing knowledge of health effects of climate change, multisectoral government initiatives with health at the centre, national health adaptations strategies, preventing health effects of extreme events and infectious diseases, advancements in postgraduate training and awareness raising, and the development and launch of the European Climate Adaptation Platform. Key priorities for future work are greater focus on greening health services, and integration of health into other sectors, as well as strengthen health in national adaptation plans.