By Desire Uzochukwu
The World Medical Association (WMA) has called on governments worldwide to treat climate change as a health emergency and rapidly phase out fossil fuels, warning that rising temperatures and extreme weather are already affecting patients and health systems.
The call followed the adoption of a revised Declaration of Delhi on Health and Climate Change at the WMA General Assembly.
The revised declaration urges governments to protect the right of future generations to live in a healthy environment, while ensuring that communities most vulnerable to climate change receive the support they need.
WMA President, Dr Jung Yul Park, said climate change was already affecting human health through extreme heat, flooding and the spread of diseases, stressing that physicians must address the causes of the crisis as well as its health consequences.
“Climate change is already changing the health of our patients, through heat, floods and disease,” Park said.
“Our ethical code asks physicians to protect the health of future generations as well as today’s patients. That means acting on the causes, not only treating the consequences.”
The association called for a rapid and equitable global phase-out of fossil fuels, alongside a just transition for workers and communities affected by fossil fuel extraction, processing and combustion.
Park said the burden of climate change was disproportionately borne by people who contributed least to the crisis.
“The people most at risk are those who did least to cause this crisis,” he said, urging governments to strengthen health system preparedness and ensure climate adaptation measures reach the communities that need them most.
Calls for climate funding, health system preparedness
Under the revised declaration, the WMA urged national governments to honour their international climate commitments and provide climate financing to strengthen health systems.
It also called for increased investment in climate and health research, as well as training for physicians and other health professionals to respond to climate-related disasters.
The association said health representatives should be included in emergency preparedness and response planning, while policies across relevant sectors should take health impacts into account.
Governments were also urged to make adequate provisions for people displaced by environmental causes, as climate-related emergencies threaten livelihoods, homes and access to healthcare.
Doctors urged to act
The WMA called on physicians to prepare for climate-related emergencies and disruptions to medical supplies, while taking steps to reduce the environmental footprint of healthcare delivery.
It also urged doctors to consider environmental exposures when taking patients’ medical histories, recognising that environmental conditions can affect health and disease risks.
Medical associations were encouraged to make the climate emergency a priority and promote the inclusion of climate change and health in medical education.
The revised declaration reinforces the medical profession’s role in addressing climate change, combining calls for government action with measures to prepare health systems, protect vulnerable populations and reduce healthcare’s environmental impact.
