The United Arab Emirates and several charities at the U.N. climate summit on Sunday offered $777 million in financing for eradicating neglected tropical diseases that are expected to worsen as temperatures climb.
Climate-related factors “have become one of the greatest threats to human health in the 21st century”, COP28 President Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber said in a statement.
The pledges, made as the COP28 summit on Sunday focused on climate-related health risks, included $100 million from the UAE and another $100 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Reuters reported.
Others to announce funds for climate-related health issues included Belgium, Germany and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The World Bank launched a program to explore possible support measures for public health in developing countries, where climate-related health risks are especially high.
The burden of tropical diseases will worsen as the world warms, along with other climate-driven health threats including malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea and heat stress.
More than 120 countries have signed a COP28 declaration acknowledging their responsibility to keep people safe amid global warming.
The declaration made no mention of fossil fuels, the main source of climate-warming emissions, which the Global Climate and Health Alliance called a “glaring omission”.
