Promoting Public Health Trans-sectorally as a Policy Criterion Greater emphasis must now be given to helping countries where there is a particular need to improve vulnerability assessment, to identify climate change health risks, and to define needs and resources for mitigation and adaptation programmes.
Research requires the availability of quality data.
International agencies could support the formation of a central clearinghouse for data on climate-health linkages in order to facilitate the gathering of data for research, especially for developing countries and particularly for data generated by global monitoring systems. In the former countries, personal, community and national level adaptation options are likely to be severely limited. The most effective strategies for adaptation would entail changes in the international mechanisms of agriculture, trade and finance. Global organisations such as the World Trade Organisation may be best placed to implement the required changes of policy - provided there is the political will to address the issue seriously.