Hosted by: RTI International

The risks of climate change to population health are widespread and have been increasingly well documented over the last decade. Yet health systems and public health practitioners have been slow to embrace a climate-focused lens to prepare for or adapt to the effects of climate change, continuing to operate largely outside of the emerging community of climate change response. To effectively address climate-related health impacts, we must ensure that a clear paradigm exists for accelerating and mainstreaming a climate focus within the structures of global health decision making, funding, research and practice–a starting point of self-reflection around the incentives, challenges, opportunities and barriers is important to help us make the most of this moment. This panel will discuss the opportunities and challenges for aligning global health and climate priorities, including improving coordination with global health bodies, defining models and methods for incorporating climate resilience within health measures, incorporating equity considerations associated with climate change, and better reflecting climate impacts in global health program design and implementation.