PAHO Director warns of intensifying climate threats to health in the Americas at global conference in Brazil – PAHO/WHO
Dr. Barbosa urged countries to put health in the center of climate policy and guarantee access to climatic finances, before the key COP30 negotiations.
Brasilia, July 29, 2025 (PAHO)-as the Americas face record temperatures, increasing disease outbreaks and increasingly destructive climatic events, the director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, requested an urgent action to place health and equity in the center of the climatic agenda.
«Populations in vulnerability situations have the worst part of these climatic impacts, although they are the least responsible for it,» said Dr. Barbosa. Their comments arrived during the opening of the 2025 global conference on climate and healthheld in Brasilia from July 29 to 31 and coorganized by Paho together with the Government of Brazil and the World Health Organization (WHO).
The conference is an official preparatory meeting for the 30th United Nations Conference for Climate Change of the parties (COP30), which will also take place in Brazil (Belém, November 10-21). At that meeting, countries and partners are expected to contribute to Belém’s Health Action Plan, a road map to integrate health into global climate policy.
Dr. Barbosa described the toll that climate change has already taken in the region. «2024 was the warmest year experienced in the region since 1900, being the heat waves the most lethal climate danger,» he said.
In addition, forest fires affected 70,000 people in Bolivia, Brazil, Canada and Chile; Floods impacted 5 million people in ten countries, including catastrophic floods experienced in southern Brazil, and droughts contributed to food insecurity and malnutrition in Brazil and Colombia, which affected 1.2 million people.
Hurricanes affected more than 4.5 million people in the Caribbean, Central and North America, damaging more than 200 health facilities. «Hurricane Beryl was the first storm in category 5 of the registered Atlantic and the devastated Granada and the neighboring islands,» he said.
Meanwhile, climate sensitive diseases increased throughout the continent last year. The region saw a high record number of dengue cases that reach 13 million cases, the total of Triple 2023, with more than 7,700 deaths, ”said Dr. Barbosa.
PAHO KEY REGIONAL STRATEGIES
In response to these trends, he praised the Belém Health Action Plan approach, saying that «it puts health capital in the center and prioritizes intersectoral action and significant social participation.»
The plan, he added, is aligned with Paho’s policy to strengthen the action of the health sector oriented to equity on climate change and health, adopted by the Member States of the PAHO in 2024. This policy «focuses on promoting health -resistant health services and guaranteeing access to health for all, while simultaneously reducing serious gase emissions,» said Dr. Barbosa.
The director of Pah also stressed that both Belém’s Health Action Plan and Politics are consistent with two of Paho’s key regional strategies: the disease elimination initiative, aimed at eliminating 30 diseases and related conditions for 2030, and the best care for the initiative of non -communicable diseases.
«Both are focused on equity, addressing the social and environmental determinants of health,» he explained. «In this sense, Paho has worked with regulators and water suppliers to develop water safety and climate resistant plans in 22 countries, benefiting 84.5 million people, seven million of them only last year.»
Dr. Barbosa also underlined Paho’s support to countries in the construction of climate resistant health systems. «We are working with Member States to develop national health adaptation plans, improve health infrastructure, improve climate sensitive diseases and develop key measures to anticipate, prevent, prepare and respond to climate -related events and mitigate their health effects.»
Guarantee accessible climate financing
To expand these efforts, he emphasized the need for financial support. «I would like to highlight another aspect of Paho’s climate and health policy, and also the official position of the Brazilian presidency in COP30: the importance of guaranteeing timely and accessible climatic finances,» he said.
«Efficient and specific investments require a solid situation analysis and concrete development plans,» he added, noting that the PAHO is supporting countries at national and subnational levels to carry out viability studies and design investments to reduce emissions in the health sector, improve infrastructure and strengthen the early response capacity.
He also pointed out regional commitments to reduce air pollution deaths. «Recognize that ambient and domestic air pollution contributes to 24% of deaths from non -communicable diseases in the Americas, Paho and that co -organized the second World Conference on Air and Health Contamination in Cartagena, Colombia, in March,» he said. «As a result, countries promised to reduce deaths due to air pollution by 50% by 2040.»
Dr. Barbosa concluded reaffirming Paho’s commitment to implement Belém’s health action plan along with the Member States, civil society and philanthropic and multilateral partners. «Paho is well positioned to implement the aforementioned policies and Belém’s Health Action Plan,» he said. «We are still committed to advancing together and exploring innovative solutions for shared challenges.»
About the global climate and health conference
He 2025 global conference on climate and health It takes place from July 29 to 31 at the International Center for Convention in Brazil in Brasilia. It gathers representatives of governments, the UN system, philanthropy and civil society to support the development of the Belém Health Action Plan, which will be adopted in COP30. The conference also serves as the annual meeting in the person of the WHO -led alliance for transforming action on climate and health (ATACH), A global platform for collaboration and exchange of knowledge about weather and health.
