Despite spending over a year dealing with the pandemic, along with heatwaves, forest fires and other climate impacts, governments are not yet doing enough to prioritise health in the face of a warming climate or to incorporate health into their climate commitments, according to the Healthy NDC Scorecard released today by the Global Climate and Health Alliance.

Bigger, more frequent forest and bush fires are having increased and not yet well-studied health impacts on people – including through longer and more frequent exposure to fire smoke by larger populations in distant cities – according to a report released today by the Global Climate and Health Alliance

South African and pan-African health groups are calling on the South African government to recognise that health is the bottom line of climate change, and to put health at the heart of its climate commitments ahead of this November’s COP26 global climate meeting.

Up to two million schoolchildren (20 lakhs) in Bengaluru, India are potentially exposed to dangerous air pollution during their school day, risking asthma, allergic rhinitis and other chronic health impacts, according to a report released today by Healthy Air Coalition, Bengaluru.

Governments worldwide must mark today, World Health Day, by seizing the opportunity to make health the keystone of their national climate action commitments ahead of November’s COP26 climate summit, said an international consortium of health professional and health civil society organizations. The theme of this year’s World Health Day is “building a fairer, healthier world for everyone”

“Health professionals must join the growing global community of science-based advocates working to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement”, according to a call to action published today by members of the Board of Directors of the Global Climate and Health Alliance (GCHA) in The Journal of Climate Change and Health. manifesto, titled “Health professionals, the Paris agreement, and the fierce urgency of now”.

“World leaders must draw motivation from this year’s Lancet Countdown report to drive ambitious and meaningful action that will immediately increase the pace of carbon emission reductions”, said Jeni Miller, Executive Director of the Global Climate and Health Alliance. “With the world already having warmed 1.2 degrees Celsius, impacts on human health are beginning to snowball”.

Political leaders, medical professionals, civil society leaders and experts on climate and health are calling for COVID-19 responses that integrate health, the economy, biodiversity and climate change, ahead of a global virtual gathering on November 9 aimed at putting health and equity at the center of ambitious climate action.

The Race to Zero Climate & Health Dialogue will bring local and global actors together to place health and equity at the center of ambitious climate action. Register now!

“NHS England’s promise to eliminate its net greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 sets an extraordinary example for the health sector around the world of the kind of climate action we need. This decision by NHS England aligns with robust scientific evidence on just how serious a threat climate change represents for human health, and puts England’s health service on a path that supports a more resilient, sustainable, and a healthier future. Though we are still grappling with a devastating pandemic, health leaders have a responsibility to manage the other health threats on the horizon. The NHS commitment clearly recognizes this, and must serve as inspiration for health services worldwide to do the same”.

“The urgency of our current situation demands decisive action and substantive finance from governments to deliver a fair transition away from fossil fuels towards clean development and a safe and healthy future for all.”

“It is clear that the US wildfires are one of the new faces of the climate crisis. Emergency services are doing an amazing job battling the fires, but the toxic air pollution generated by the fires is also a health hazard, and a problem which must not be ignored.”

Ahead of this month’s G20 Finance Ministers meeting (July 18-19), WHO representatives, an economist with COVID19 recovery expertise and representatives from leading medical and health organizations from around the world will gather for a webinar on July 15th titled A Healthy Recovery: Charting the path forward.

The analysis of air quality data by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), collected  by Bengaluru’s Healthy Air Coalition, shows that air pollution during the Covid-19 lockdown period, measured as PM2.5, was reduced by an average of 28% [1]. Additional analysis of satellite data confirms the downward trend in emissions during lockdown.

This letter is supported and promoted by the Global Climate and Health Alliance, Every Breath Matters, and the World Health Organization in service of the global medical and health community. Over 40 million doctors, nurses and other health professionals from 90...