South-East Asia is now at the frontline of the global climate-health crisis, recording the highest number of climate-related deaths among all WHO regions each year, according to WHO South-East Asia’s Officer-in-Charge, Dr. Catharina Boehme, who has called for urgent acceleration of climate and health action across the region.

In a World Environment Day message centred on the theme “Climate Action”, Dr. Boehme warned that climate change is no longer a distant environmental concern but a rapidly escalating public health emergency with severe and widening consequences for millions of people.

Air pollution continues to kill millions annually, while increasingly frequent and intense heatwaves are driving higher rates of illness and death. Extreme weather events are damaging health infrastructure, disrupting medical supply chains, triggering outbreaks of waterborne and vector-borne diseases, displacing communities, and deepening food and nutritional insecurity. The mental health and psychosocial impacts of climate shocks are also growing, she said.

“Awareness is no longer enough. The imperative now is implementation,” Dr. Boehme said.

The WHO official noted that countries in the region have already begun building a foundation for climate-resilient health systems. The 2017 Male Declaration committed Member States to strengthening health system resilience to climate change, and WHO subsequently operationalized that commitment through a Regional Framework for Action (2017–2027).

That effort has since been expanded through the Regional Plan of Action to Implement the Global Strategy for Health, Environment and Climate Change, which sets out a decade-long agenda for regional action. WHO has also reconstituted its Regional Expert Group on Environmental Determinants of Health and Climate Change to strengthen evidence generation, technical cooperation, and capacity-building.

At the broader Asia-Pacific level, WHO—working through the joint secretariat of the Asia Pacific Regional Forum on Health and Environment—is encouraging governments to integrate health more systematically into environmental policies. WHO is also supporting the Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health (ATACH), which promotes climate-resilient and low-carbon health systems in line with commitments made at COP26.

Across South-East Asia, several countries have begun translating commitments into policy. Seven Member States have developed Health National Adaptation Plans (HNAPs), most have integrated climate considerations into health programmes, and many have established multisectoral coordination mechanisms. Seven countries have committed to building climate-resilient and low-carbon health systems under the COP26 Health Programme, while others are preparing proposals for financing through international mechanisms such as the Green Climate Fund.

Despite this progress, Dr. Boehme cautioned that major obstacles remain. Limited financing, inadequate technologies and tools, competing health priorities, and insufficient research—particularly evidence focused on vulnerable populations—continue to slow implementation.

To close the gap between commitments and action, WHO is urging governments to accelerate HNAP implementation with dedicated funding, embed climate vulnerability assessments throughout health systems, and strengthen coordination across health, environment, water, agriculture, and disaster-management sectors. The organization is also encouraging countries to make fuller use of international climate-finance opportunities, including the Global Environment Facility, Green Climate Fund, Adaptation Fund, and the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage.

Dr. Boehme emphasized that effective climate adaptation will depend not only on national governments but also on empowering local communities, young people, and holders of Indigenous knowledge to lead locally grounded solutions.

On World Environment Day, she said, the message is clear: “A healthy environment is the foundation of a healthy society, and climate action is health action. Now, we must act.