What happened
Prof. Dr. Emine Didem Evci Kiraz has urged COP31 to address health-system resilience through specific objectives that can be monitored. In an episode of COP31 Yolu, produced by İklim Haber and Medyascope, she discussed climate change and health with Barış Doğru.
Kiraz’s central message was that national commitments should extend beyond statements of intention. Countries should set out the actions they will take, explain how they will be carried out and measure the resulting progress, she said.
She described climate change as a direct public-health concern rather than an issue confined to environmental policy. The risks she highlighted include extreme heat, forest fires, worsening air quality, damage to water and food security, and disasters associated with those pressures. She also cited infectious diseases and diseases transmitted from animals to humans as relevant considerations.
Why it matters
The intervention frames climate resilience in health care as an operational and accountability question for governments and health-system leaders. Kiraz said climate policy should be assessed by how well it safeguards the planet, human health and health equity.
For decision-makers, the next step is to connect scientific evidence with public policy, local delivery and financing. Her comments indicate that resilience plans need both adequate funding and results that can be evaluated.
Health had previously received less attention in climate discussions, Kiraz said, in part because people were assumed to be able to adjust to changing conditions. She argued that the current scale of health risks makes that approach insufficient.
What COP31 should address
Kiraz expects stronger links among research, public policy, local practice and finance to be important in COP31 discussions on climate and health. Her proposed test for countries is practical: identify concrete resilience measures for health systems and make national delivery visible through transparent progress assessment.
That would move the discussion from broad commitments towards targets against which implementation can be reviewed.
Source: İklim Haber.
