This statement is made by Wellcome Trust, together with Rockefeller Foundation in support of the Resolution on Climate Change and Health. We firstly, commend the co-chairs the Netherlands and Peru, and the Core Group of Member States for the preparation of the text.

In more recent years, the devastating impacts of the changing climate on human health have been evident in every region of the world. Simply put, the climate crisis is a health crisis.

Building on the GPW14 emphasis to prioritise action on climate change and health, we urge WHO to build the capacity of Member States to respond to the health impacts of climate change. We explicitly call on Member States to engage across sectors to ensure health in all policies and embed health into national climate plans and strategies. Without rapid mitigation and adaptation measures across sectors, it will not be feasible to build critical resilient infrastructure such as health systems or realise the additional near-term health co-benefits.

We welcome the reference in the Resolution to working more closely with the UNFCCC and building on the COP28 Declaration on Climate and Health. We therefore call upon the WHO Member States to adopt the Resolution at the 77th World Health Assembly.