You cannot measure what you do not understand: Reimagine climate policies through health risks

Climate change has transformed public health risk from a predictable challenge into a complex, cascading, and systemic crisis. Health systems are increasingly expected to prepare for, respond to, and recover from climate-related shocks; yet climate action is still largely designed and monitored without adequately understanding the health risks that define vulnerability and resilience. This presentation argues that climate adaptation and mitigation cannot be meaningfully assessed unless the climate–health relationship itself is clearly defined, measured, and governed. The presentation draws on Türkiye’s pioneering experience in integrating climate change and health into national governance structures. As early as 2010, collaboration between the Ministry of Health of Türkiye and the World Health Organization marked one of the first global examples of formally recognizing climate change as a public health risk and embedding it within health policy, capacity-building programs, and risk assessment frameworks. This early institutionalization positioned health not as a downstream impact of climate change, but as a core determinant of preparedness and resilience. Building on this foundation, Türkiye has advanced an internationally exemplary model by placing health among the main sectors of national and local climate governance. Through strategic collaboration between the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change and UNDP Türkiye, health has been systematically integrated into mitigation and adaptation policies, Nationally Determined Contributions, national development strategies, and long-term climate pathways. This whole-of-government approach demonstrates how health can be embedded across climate policy architectures rather than addressed in isolation. At the same time, the presentation highlights a critical global weakness: the absence of robust, climate-sensitive health data. The lack of systematic information on climate-sensitive diseases, vectoral-zoonotic-air/water/soil related diseases, mental health impacts, and sectoral climate change dependent health outcomes creates major gaps in risk assessment and undermines preparedness planning. While much of the academic and policy community currently focuses on monitoring adaptation and mitigation actions, this presentation argues that such monitoring remains inherently limited unless the health impacts of climate change are clearly understood and measured. Using real-world case studies from city and regional levels, the presentation illustrates how integrated climate–health risk assessments, early warning systems, and health-informed recovery planning can strengthen resilience, particularly for vulnerable populations. It concludes with a forward-looking call to reposition public health as a strategic leader in climate governance—because without understanding health risks, climate action itself cannot be accurately measured, effectively guided, or equitably sustained.

Prof. E. Didem Evci Kiraz is a medical doctor and doctorate in Public Health and a nationally recognized leader in environmental and climate health in Türkiye. She served as director and international liaison at the Ministry of Health. For three decades, she has led WHO’s Healthy Cities Project nationally as Türkiye’s first coordinator and co-founded the Turkish Healthy Cities Association. She is a member of WHO Europe’s Scientific Committee, advises the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change and UNDP, chairs the Department of Environmental Health at Aydın Adnan Menderes University, and serves on the Türkiye Health Policies Institute’s Scientific Council.