COP29 action on health 'a matter of life and death': WHO

Climate change makes people ill and urgent action is a matter of life and death, the WHO said on Thursday, insisting health should be center stage at this month's international climate negotiations.

The World Health Organization highlighted in a new report published ahead of the November 11-22 COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan how extreme weather events were costing lives and fueling disease.

There has been growing focus on the health impacts of global heating at the annual United Nations climate talks, with last year's COP28 in Dubai for the first time including a day focused on health.

The Baku summit will be the last UN climate summit before Donald Trump's return as United States president in January.

Trump has long denounced climate change as a "hoax".

During his 2017-2021 term as president, he withdrew from the landmark Paris Agreement on curbing global heating -- and began pulling the United States out of the WHO, accusing the UN health agency of being a puppet of China.

Trump has pledged to reverse the more climate-friendly policies of outgoing US President Joe Biden, under whom the US rejoined the Paris Agreement.

Trump's threat to again walk away from this international effort to curb global heating adds to the sense of urgency for the UN summit to push through agreements before he becomes US president for a second time.

The WHO report put the links between climate and health in abrupt language, citing recent disasters.

"Climate change is making us sick, and urgent action is a matter of life and death," it said.

"From the direct effects of extreme weather and air pollution to the indirect consequences of ecosystem disruption and social instability, climate change threatens physical and mental health, well-being, and life itself.

"These impacts are not distant or abstract -- they are felt now, through record-breaking temperatures in India, deadly floods in Kenya and Spain, megafires in the Amazon, and hurricanes in the United States."

WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said extreme weather was disrupting health, water and sanitation systems, fueling and worsening outbreaks of non-communicable diseases.

"The climate crisis is a health crisis," he insisted.

Tedros said the health and associated economic benefits of measures to help the world cope with climate change far outweighed the investment needed to put them in place.

"COP29 is a crucial opportunity for global leaders to integrate health considerations into strategies for adapting to and mitigating climate change," he said.

The report said air pollution was linked to almost seven million premature deaths annually.

Some 2.41 billion workers -- 71 percent of the working population -- are exposed to excessive heat, resulting in 22.85 million injuries and 18,970 deaths annually from heat stroke and other non-communicable diseases, it said.

Extreme heat leads to health risks such as kidney disorders, strokes, adverse pregnancy outcomes, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, organ failure and ultimately death.

"Climate change increases the transmission of deadly infectious diseases such as dengue, malaria, West Nile virus, Vibriosis and respiratory infections, including pneumonia, Legionella, TB, Covid-19 and influenza, across existing and new locations," the report said.

And air pollution and climate change increase the risk pregnant women face of pre-term birth, low birth weight and maternal death, it warned.

The WHO issued guidance for policy makers on integrating health into national climate plans -- something few countries have done so far.

It made six core recommendations:

- Make human health "the top measure of climate success";

- End reliance on fossil fuels, and subsidies for them, to reduce pollution-related diseases;

- Mobilize funds for climate and health initiatives;

- Invest in "proven solutions" like heat warning systems and clean energy for domestic use;

- Focus on designing more sustainable cities, with improved sanitation and housing that can better withstand extreme weather;

- Better protect the natural world to make air and water cleaner and improve food supplies.