Climate change poses a profound threat to public health across the Western Pacific Region and globally. From rising sea levels, intensifying cyclones, heat and cold waves to climate-sensitive diseases and food insecurity, the health sector must urgently adapt.
This side event at the seventy-sixth session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific (RCM76) provides a platform to present key outcomes of the inaugural Western Pacific Action Forum on Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Health Systems. It will share results from the regional review of health in the Nationally Determined Contributions, highlight success stories, and promote regional collaboration and networking.
Additionally, the side event will explore national strategies for building climate-resilient and sustainable health systems, look into vulnerabilities of Small Island Development States, share traditional and indigenous approaches to climate-health resilience, and showcase progress and achievements in countries.
The session also provides an opportunity for Member States and partners to discuss scaling up the implementation of the Global Action Plan on Climate Change and Health 2025-2028 and the Western Pacific Region’s vision targets set by Weaving Health for Families, Communities and Societies in the Western Pacific Region (2025−2029), as well as strengthening political commitment to integrating urgent needs necessitated by climate change into health sector planning and resilience efforts.
Programme
Opening remarks
- Dr Saia Ma’u Piukala, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific
- Representative from Australia
- Representative from Fiji
Keynote presentation
- Building resilient health systems in the face of climate change: A Pacific perspective, Dr Berlin Kafoa of The Pacific Community (SPC) and Dr Mark Jacobs, WHO Representative for the South Pacific and Director of Pacific Technical Support
Panel discussion with Member States, moderated by Dr Ayoade Alakija
- ACE video presentation
- Panelists: Dr Eduardo Banzon of the Asian Development Bank, and representatives from Kiribati, Malaysia
,and Vanuatu - SPC video presentation
Closing remarks
- Dr Sandro Demaio, Director, WHO Asia-Pacific Centre for Environment and Health (ACE) in the Western Pacific Region
All delegates to the seventy-sixth session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific are welcome to attend in person at the RCM76 venue.