Experts Urge WHO to Declare Climate Change a Health Emergency
Leading international experts and the independent Pan-European Commission on Climate and Health are urgently calling on the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare climate change a “public health emergency of international concern” (PHEIC). This significant appeal, made in May 2026, underscores the immediate and escalating threat climate change poses to global health, warning that millions more people could die unnecessarily without a coordinated international response. The commission's report highlights the international spread of vector-borne diseases like dengue and chikungunya, alongside the health impacts of extreme weather events, food insecurity, and air pollution, as compelling reasons for this highest level of health alert.
A declaration of a PHEIC would trigger a globally coordinated response, similar to those implemented for past crises such as COVID-19 and Mpox. Experts argue that the current approach is insufficient, treating climate change as a chronic background condition rather than an acute, escalating threat that demands immediate and concerted action. The commission, convened by WHO Europe and chaired by former Icelandic Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir, emphasizes that governments are not responding at the scale required, and that the existing international health regulations were not designed for a threat of this nature.
The health ramifications of climate change are far-reaching, undermining decades of progress in global health. It threatens essential elements for well-being, including clean air, safe drinking water, nutritious food supplies, and secure shelter. Beyond direct impacts, climate change exacerbates mental health issues, disrupts food systems, and increases the prevalence of zoonotic, food-borne, water-borne, and vector-borne diseases. The WHO's own Fourteenth General Programme of Work for 2025–2028 recognizes responding to climate change as an escalating health threat as one of its six strategic objectives, further validating the urgency of this call.
