Advocacy tools for health leaders

Advocacy tools for health leaders

WHO / Yoshi Shimizu
WHO staff visiting the Tancari Model Health Community in Papua New Guinea.
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The health impacts of climate and environmental change cannot be dealt with by the health sector alone. WHO is supporting health leaders in the Western Pacific Region to play their part in advocating for the climate action needed to benefit health.

Health leaders can use the material on this page to inform this work. Please also feel free to reach out to your local WHO office for further assistance.

What you can do

  • Think about what would convince your colleagues working in other sectors to take the climate action that would benefit health and draft your talking points accordingly. The key messages and statistics below may help you.
  • Direct your team to gather further evidence of the health co-benefits of climate action in your country or community (see the tools in the “related” section below). "Health co-benefits" are the positive effects that a policy or measure aimed at tackling climate change might also have on health, thereby increasing the total benefits for society or the environment. 
  • Meet with your colleagues in other sectors to advocate for climate action. Speak with business leaders and policymakers in areas such as energy generation, transport, food and agriculture, urban environments and nature and encourage them to support green policies and priorities.
  • Use media opportunities and speeches at large inter-sectoral and international meetings to advocate for climate action.
  • Provide your non-health counterparts with facts and statistics on the health co-benefits of climate action to help them gain support for their green initiatives.
  • Identify inspiring health workers and community leaders advocating for climate action and create opportunities for other government and policy leaders to hear their voices.
  • Share information about the health co-benefits of climate action on social media.

Key messages

  • According to WHO, climate change is the “the single biggest health threat facing humanity”. Serious health impacts caused by climate change include death, illness and injuries caused by extreme weather events, heat stress, waterborne and foodborne diseases, malnutrition, and the negative mental health impacts of people being displaced from their homes. Meanwhile increasing disasters and rising sea levels are threatening fragile healthcare facilities at the time they are needed most.
  • Yet, the health impacts of climate and environmental change cannot be dealt with by the health sector alone. Government and business leaders must act now to counter the climate crisis.
  • Responding to climate change is an opportunity to promote health and well-being through investment in smarter, more liveable, and more sustainable cities and rural environments for people worldwide.
  • The health sector can provide you with evidence of the health co-benefits of your climate action, helping you to gain support for green initiatives.
  • Together both health and non-health professionals can make a difference, resulting in substantial improvements to human health and saving lives.  



Boy reading a book in urban area facing ambient outdoor pollution.
Hindustan Times / Getty Images
Boy reading a book in urban area facing ambient outdoor pollution.
© Credits

Health co-benefits of action by different sectors

When people working in other sectors – such as energy, transport, construction, agriculture and food production – act to mitigate climate change, everyone’s health benefits. Health leaders can and should support other sectors to gain support for climate action. They can do so by clearly explaining and sharing widely the “health co-benefits” of these actions so that allies in other sectors (e.g. such as other government ministers) can use these arguments to advocate for change. Health co-benefits are the positive effects that a policy or measure aimed at tackling climate change might also have on health, increasing the total benefits for society or the environment.

Facts and messages you can share

Greener farming and food production can deliver better climate and health outcomes

  • A transition to a food system focused on the sustainable production of healthy food could prevent up to 11 million deaths per year globally, or between 19% to 24% of total adult deaths (1,2).
  • As United Nations Special Envoy Agnes Kalibata shared recently, the global food system currently comes with a price tag of around $US 12 trillion each year in hidden costs to humanity (3). These hidden costs include many factors such as the price of treating the health impacts of air and water pollution, undernutrition (caused by waste and unequal distribution) and the noncommunicable diseases driven by obesity (due to the promotion of unhealthy food and inaccessibility of healthy food).
  • More ecologically sound farming practices that protect biodiversity and use less fossil fuels can mitigate climate change, reduce air pollution, increase food and nutrition security, lower the risk of zoonotic diseases and protect our drinking water.
  • Shifting away from meat production will lower emissions and lessen the rate of land use change necessary for pastures and growing animal feed. Land use change is the single biggest environmental driver of new disease outbreaks.

The energy sector has the power to slash carbon emissions, saving lives and protecting people’s health.

  • Transitioning to renewable energy solutions will significantly reduce indoor and outdoor air pollution – which causes 7 million deaths per year – and limit the global increase in temperature.
  • Moving away from fossil fuels would also mean that we avoid many of the negative health impacts of fossil fuel extraction, such as lung diseases in miners, injuries due to mining and oil-rig accidents, and illness from contaminated water sources (e.g. from shale gas and tar sands).
  • Renewable energy can provide a more resilient and sustainable electricity supply to healthcare facilities. Off-grid health facilities in remote Pacific Island countries, for example, are increasingly benefitting from solar panels.

The construction sector can simultaneously save lives, promote wellbeing and counter the worst effects of climate change.

  • Through the selection of more sustainable building materials and the use of clever architecture and design, those working in construction can cut climate emissions and build buildings that promote health and wellbeing.
  • The number of people worldwide exposed to heat waves increased by around 125 million between 2000 and 2016 and that number is expected to keep rising. Lives and health can be protected by increasing insulation in new and existing buildings to cope with temperature extremes and mitigate heat stress in urban areas.
  • In addition to protecting people from deaths and illness related to heightened temperatures, greener cities and spaces also have positive impacts on mental health and wellbeing.
  • Increased greenery (including rooftop gardens), shading and the use of more thermally efficient building materials can help keep buildings and cities at safer temperatures.
  • Retrofitting older buildings to improve energy efficiency not only avoids emissions that would be released when buildings are constructed from scratch but leads to greenhouse gas emission reductions in their operation (e.g. when using lighting, cooking, heating and cooling), making them comfortable spaces with less energy use.

Sustainable transport benefits both the climate and health

  • The transport sector – currently responsible for almost a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions – has the ability to make a big impact in cutting climate emissions and fostering a healthier future (4).
  • The promotion of more active forms of transport such as walking, cycling and sustainable public transport would help to limit greenhouse gas emissions while also benefitting health.
    • Up to 5 million deaths a year could be averted if the global population was more active.

By reducing our environmental impact, the health sector can set an example for other sectors.

  • The global health care climate footprint makes up nearly 5% of greenhouse gas emissions (5). By reducing our carbon footprint, the health sector can contribute a significant reduction in emissions and also lead the way for other sectors to follow towards a greener, healthier future. 
  • WHO is supporting countries to build sustainable, climate-resilient health systems. This will reduce the sector’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring that health facilities can continue treating patients even in the face of climate-fuelled outbreaks and disasters – when, after all, they are needed most.
  • Ministries of health can:

Publications

Brief for parliamentarians
10 November 2023

Brief for parliamentarians
This “Backpocket” series for parliamentarians on climate change, environment and health in the Western Pacific region will provide parliamentarians with...
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  1. Ashkan et al. Health effects of dietary risks in 195 countries, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Lancet. 2019; 393(10184):1958-1972. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(19)30041-8.
  2. The Health Argument for Climate Action
  3. Agnes Kalibata, How Transforming Food Systems Could Unlock a $12 Trillion Global Windfall, Inter Press Service, 23 September 2021.
  4. International Energy Agency, Tracking Transport 2020. 2020 (https://www.iea.org/reports/trackingtransport-2020, accessed 21 September 2021).
  5.  Lenzen M, et al. The environmental footprint of health care: a global assessment. Lancet Planetary Health. 2020; 4(7), e271-e279. doi: 10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30121-2.