Welcome to the July-August edition of HEAL newsletter

Floods in England, forest fires in southern Europe and record temperatures in Central and Eastern Europe made the headlines in the press this summer. As EU Commissioner for the Environment Stavros Dimas, pointed out at a major conference on climate change and adaptation: “People all over Europe increasingly feel the threatening effects of climate change on their health... climate change will hit hardest the most vulnerable members of society.”

At EU level climate change and adaptation strategies for human health are top of the political agenda. The Environment Ministers will be dealing with climate change and adaptation under the new Portuguese Presidency. The European Parliament also has a newly established temporary committee dedicated to climate change matters and the European Commission Health Directorate will start consultations on an EU climate change and health policy to be published next year.

The Health & Environment Alliance is striving to draw attention to the health implications of climate change and to engage the public health community as strong advocates for protective adaptation and mitigation strategies. Health professionals and the wider health community can indeed play an important role in raising people’s consciousness about the health risks of climate change, and persuading them to adapt their behaviour.

For this purpose, HEAL will be organizing a conference on Climate change and the challenges for public health - priorities for EU Action on October 2nd in Brussels. The event, co-organised with the European Public Health Alliance, will address important issues for health and medical communities in the EU, as well as provide more substantial expert (WHO & EEA) and civil society input into the European Commission consultations on climate change and health.