Swiss TPH Symposium on Climate Change and Health

Climate change not only has an impact on the environment, but also significant effects on global health. What exactly these effects are and how to mitigate them were the questions addressed at this year's Swiss TPH Winter Symposium. Experts from academia, public administration, international organisations and the private sector joined the pressing discussions around climate change and health from 5-6 December in Basel. "Kristie, thank you so much for not coming to Basel - the floor is yours," said Nino Künzli, Swiss TPH as he welcomed one of the first speakers, Kristie Ebi from the University of Washington. In the spirit of the topic, this year's Swiss TPH Winter Symposium brought many new features - including video conferencing and live streaming - reducing the ecological footprint of the event by an estimated 28 tons of CO2. Kristie Ebi, despite talking from the other side of the globe, made her point loud and clear: "Every action matters, every bit of warming matters, every year matters, every choice matters!" Indeed, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that approximately 250,000 deaths annually between 2030 and 2050 could be due to climate change, with vulnerable populations being the most affected. "One of the biggest health threats of this century" "There is no more denying the various effects that climate change has and will have on health; it is becoming one of the biggest global health threats of this century," said Guéladio Cissé, Swiss TPH and co-chair of the symposium.