A mother and her baby sit in an ambulance at an accommodation center in Beira, Mozambique, where her 2-year-old daughter is being treated for malaria. UN photo

Protecting people’s health from climate change dangers such as heat stress, storms and tsunamis has never been more important, yet most countries are doing too little about it, the World Health Organization (WHO) said recently.

In its first global review of more than 100 countries, the United Nations agency found that while around half of them have developed a strategy on the issue, fewer than one in five is spending enough to implement all of their commitments.

“Climate change is not only racking up a bill for future generations to pay, it’s a price that people are paying for now with their health”, said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization. “It is a moral imperative that countries have the resources they need to act against climate change and safeguard health now and in the future.”

Of the countries that conducted an assessment of climate risks to people’s health, the most common risks were heat stress, injury or death from extreme weather events.

Food and water security issues, along with vector-borne diseases, such as cholera, dengue or malaria, also featured.

Despite the countries’ findings, about 60 percent reported that the data had “little or no influence” on the allocation of human or financial resources to make the changes needed to protect people’s health.

Mainstreaming health in national and international climate processes could help access the necessary funds, WHO suggested.

It noted that while two-thirds of Nationally Determined Contributions to the 2015 Paris Agreement mention health as part of efforts to combat climate change and accelerate actions needed for a sustainable low carbon future, “this has not resulted in the necessary level of implementation and support.”