Welcome to the October edition of HEAL Newsletter

The impact of climate change on public health and health care provision has moved steadily to centre stage across Europe and internationally. In their Fourth Assessment Report, Nobel Peace Prize winners of the United Nations Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) left policy makers in no doubt that climate change was already contributing to the global burden of disease and premature death. Indeed, the World Health Organisation announced in October that climate change will be at the centre of World Health Day 2008 and the European Commission Health directorate held a workshop to prepare a Communication on health and climate change due next year.

In response, the Health & Environment Alliance and the European Public Health Alliance co-organised an expert seminar on climate change and health on 2 October, immediately after the HEAL Annual General Assembly. The aim was to clarify the challenges of mitigation and adaptation, highlight the role of the medical and health communities and provide a more substantial expert and civil society input into the European Commission Green Paper on Climate Change and Adaptation. For more information and to see the presentations please visit the conference page or to receive regular updates on health and climate change please join our list serve.

According to the Health & Environment Alliance, policies focussing on the most vulnerable groups and considering win-win-win scenarios for public health, adaptation and mitigation should be a first priority when tackling climate change. A review of the latest scientific evidence on climate change and health as well as key findings from selected EU countries and policy recommendations have been summarised in a newly published HEAL briefing entitled "Climate change and health: Protecting the most vulnerable".