New climate change country profiles show key health risks and priority areas for action in European Region

Climate change affects everybody across the world, but each country may face different effects in various ways. To address this threat, national authorities need information on the specific climate hazards they are already facing, the ones that will come in the future, and the opportunities to mitigate climate change impacts. For that reason, WHO and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have launched the Health and Climate Change Country Profile initiative for monitoring national and global progress on health and climate change.

Last year, countries of the European Region witnessed many extreme weather events directly linked to the changing climate, from floods to wildfires and heatwaves, which directly and indirectly impact people's health and health systems. The climate-related health emergencies in the Region are expected to become even more frequent and intense due to climate change.

The Health and Climate Change Country Profiles give an overview of critical areas for action to combat these threats, and provide links to available resources. Developed in collaboration with national health services, they summarize evidence of the climate hazards and health risks facing countries. They track national progress in addressing the health threats from climate change and highlight opportunities for gaining health benefits from climate mitigation action.

WHO published the country profiles of the first group of participating countries from the European Region for the current 2021–2022 global series. A few highlights from the 6 new country profiles are:

Over 80 countries have participated in the Health and Climate Change Country Profile initiative since it began in 2015. More European Region country profiles (Belarus, Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Romania, Sweden and Turkey) are in development and will follow shortly.