QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS ON EU CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION STRATEGY IN HEALTH SECTOR

The study assesses the level of integration of public health measures into
national climate change adaptation strategies or action plans in the EU 28 countries
in 2017-8, as part of the Pagoda WHO project. Areas covered in the analysis are: governance
and policies on climate change and health impact, vulnerability assessment
of climate change, integrated climate information into infectious disease surveillance,
early warning systems for extreme weather, recent projects on climate change
and human health, health effects of climate change, best practices, main risks and
priorities protecting from climate change. A qualitative approach was applied in this
research study based on responses of 20 questionnaires of WHO European Member
States. 15 of the responding countries had developed a climate change health adaptation
strategy and an associated implementation plan (75%), and these were approved
by the government in 13 countries (65%). The results revealed certain specific areas
for technical improvement mainly in strengthening of capacities to ascertain the climate-
sensitive disease burden in populations.