+ + Focus on health and climate for one day
Berlin/Dubai, 1 December 2023 - For the first time, the nexus between climate change and health will be explicitly addressed at a UN climate conference. A Health Day will take place at COP 28 on 3 December 2023. "We expect this day to have a major signalling effect because the changes caused by climate change and their negative effects on the health of people, animals and the environment will finally be given a forum. We also hope to attract more attention to the neglected tropical diseases that are directly linked to climate change and particularly affect those who are particularly vulnerable to climate change," says Prof Dr Achim Hörauf, DNTD spokesperson and Director of the Institute of Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology at Bonn University Hospital.
The Health Day, which will take place in parallel with the COP 28 programme, will be supplemented by another conference, the "Reaching the Last Mile Forum 2023". "We need to adapt our strategies to safeguard the achievements of global health in a rapidly evolving climate landscape. This includes revising surveillance systems and intervention strategies, holistic research to understand the complex effects of climate change on disease transmission and also incorporating climate resilience," calls Dr Ibrahima Socé Fall, Director of the Department of Neglected Tropical Diseases at the World Health Organization (WHO).
Germany, which signed the Kigali Declaration against Neglected Tropical Diseases in 2022 and committed to joint action against tropical diseases, will also present its activities at the Reaching the Last Mile Forum 2023. The German government supports product development partnerships with the aim of ensuring access to new, effective and safe health products against neglected tropical diseases. In a first phase, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is supporting the "Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative" (DNDi) to improve access to new drugs against visceral leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, sleeping sickness and river blindness in East Africa, India and South America. This will complement the long-term funding for research and development from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) that the German government provides to DNDi, the German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), the Sub-Saharan Research Networks (RHISSA) and others.
More information: https://unitingtocombatntds.org/en/neglected-tropical-diseases/resources/ntds-and-climate-change/
