WHO calls for urgent action on climate, health at COP28

The impact of climate change on health needs to take centre stage in global negotiations, the World Health Organization urged on Monday, as delegates head to Dubai for the two-week COP28 summit that starts on November 30.

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"Prioritising health is not just a choice; it is the foundation of resilient societies," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the global body, said in a statement. "Leaders must deliver in Dubai, providing the strong health outcomes their peoples expect and their economies urgently need." 

Almost 3.5 billion people, nearly half of humanity, live in areas highly vulnerable to climate change, WHO said, quoting from a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world's largest collective of climate experts. Heat-related deaths among those over 65 years of age have risen by 70% worldwide in two decades, WHO data shows. Only a dramatic and dedicated effort to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius will prevent a future much worse than what we see now, it said in the statement.