UN Agencies Launch Joint Program to Support Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon in Climate Change Response

The program, operating under the Migration Multi-Partner Trust Fund, aims to strengthen the resilience of health systems and migrant populations to climate change and disaster risks by incorporating an inclusive human mobility lens into national public health adaptation and risk reduction strategies of the target countries.

The Middle East and North Africa region is among the world’s most vulnerable regions to climate change due to its mostly arid climate, coupled with serious water scarcity, continued population growth and urbanization.

Health impacts commonly identified in the region include cardiovascular and respiratory diseases caused by rising temperatures; resurgence and proliferation of vector-borne diseases; air pollution; and foodborne and waterborne diseases caused by degraded quality of water resources.

The programme thus seeks to integrate climate change adaptation and risk reduction strategies, with a specific focus on addressing the unique challenges faced by migrant populations in Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon.

Migrants often face challenges in accessing adequate health services due to factors such as their location, their legal status in transit and destination countries, the affordability of health services, and negative perceptions towards migrants in some host communities.   

This integration is also crucial given the projected increase in climate-induced displacement and the associated health risks, particularly in regions with high exposure and low adaptive capacity, such as the Middle East and North Africa region. 

The program will address the information gap on the intersections between climate change, risk reduction, health and human mobility by producing and sharing relevant data. It will also hold capacity-building activities for government officials to improve the integration of an inclusive human mobility lens into local public health adaptation and resilience action plans.

A series of trainings will be organized to enable health professionals in the target countries to obtain the knowledge and skills to respond in an inclusive manner to health threats exacerbated by climate change and in disaster situations. Further, awareness-raising activities will target migrant communities in the involved countries.