UAE invited to join group tackling climate effects on health

Cop29 host Azerbaijan asks UAE, Egypt, Britain and Brazil to help steer discussions at UN summits

Slums in India are sprayed to prevent mosquitoes spreading disease. Health chiefs warn a hotter planet could have severe health effects such as increased illness. EPA

The UAE has been asked to join a group of five countries leading a charge for climate policies that protect people's health.

Azerbaijan has proposed a health-focused "continuity coalition" of nations that have recently staged or will soon host a UN climate summit. It could be launched at Cop29 in Baku in November, with the UAE, Britain, Egypt and Brazil as the other members.

The World Health Organisation could also play a role. The group would build on a first-ever day of health-focused talks at Cop28 in the UAE, where more than 100 countries pledged to tackle issues cutting across climate and health policy such as pollution and pandemic risks.

Health chiefs warn that diseases such as malaria may flourish on a warmer planet, while floods and droughts are a threat to food and nutrition. Equally, they say cutting pollution to protect the planet will have knock-on benefits for health.

A second health day will take place during Cop29, where health ministers have been invited for talks on cities, resilience and development. But Azerbaijan says it wants to "encourage future Cops to continue this topic".

Health talks should be made "more efficient at a global level" after each country launched its own initiatives as summit host, said Elmar Mammadov, who leads Cop29's Action Agenda Team. The new coalition is "one of the legacies we will create" from the Baku summit, he added.

It is envisaged by Azerbaijan that a steering committee of the five countries would meet regularly to prepare for Cop summits. It could also meet during the annual World Health Assembly, which typically takes place in Geneva in May.

Maria Neira, a WHO director, said the coming talks would provide a "strong platform to ensure that the work of the Cops will be maintained". The UN agency has lobbied climate policymakers to put a greater emphasis on health.

Britain's Cop26 team oversaw the creation of an Alliance for Action on Climate Change and Health (ATACH), while the UAE talks brought hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of pledges to help eradicate tropical diseases.

The 123-nation UAE Declaration on Climate and Health called for a "comprehensive response to address the impacts of climate change on health", including in specific areas such as hygiene, nutrition and disease surveillance.