PAHO Director warns of intensifying climate threats to health in the Americas at global conference in Brazil

Brasilia, 29 July 2025 (PAHO) – As the Americas confront record-breaking temperatures, surging disease outbreaks, and increasingly destructive climate events, the Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, called for urgent action to place health and equity at the center of the climate agenda.

“Populations in situations of vulnerability bear the brunt of these climate impacts, although they are the least responsible for it,” Dr. Barbosa warned. His remarks came during the opening of the 2025 Global Conference on Climate and Health, held in Brasilia on July 29-31 and co-organized by PAHO alongside the Government of Brazil and the World Health Organization (WHO).