Governments must act now to mitigate the threats posed to human health by climate change, the World Health Organization has warned.

In a joint report, The Atlas of Health and Climate, WHO and the World Meteorological Organization are calling on health and weather services to work together to limit the risks to human health posed by factors such as air pollution, high temperatures, the spread of infectious diseases, and an increase in the frequency of natural disasters.1

Margaret Chan, WHO’s director general, said, “Prevention and preparedness are the heart of public health. Risk management is our daily bread and butter. Information on climate variability and climate change is a powerful scientific tool that assists us …