Establishing regional centres for health action on climate change

At present there is no international mechanism for securing an overview of the emerging threats to human health posed by climate change. This situation requires the presence of central, regional coordinating bodies to facilitate existing multinational efforts being made and to provide regional states with the necessary information and insight to support policy-making.

Regional coordinating centres should: (1) provide support to member states and develop their capacity to assess the impacts on human health of climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion; (2) strengthen the advocacy role of the health sector in support of ongoing UNFCCC negotiations and national mitigation policies, as well as in support of implementation of the Montreal Protocol and its subsequent amendments; (3) strengthen the dissemination of information on health impacts within the health sector, in other sectors and among the general public; (4) assist with national impact assessments, in order to assess national vulnerabilities and priorities for preventive action; (5) support interdisciplinary research into the study and forecasting of the health impacts of climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion; (6) assist in the development of national health response (adaptation) strategies; (7) build strategic partnerships between policy-makers, the research community, monitoring and surveillance networks, and other relevant institutions and agencies; and (8) in partnership with regional health and environmental monitoring and surveillance networks, develop indicators and review data periodically to detect early health impacts of climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion.