The Group of Seven health
ministers meeting in Milan on Monday issued a joint statement
saying that climate factors have an impact on human health.
Italy's Beatrice Lorenzin said an agreement was reached on
the final statement thanks to a compromise struck with the
United States.
"A shared conclusion has been reached", Lorenzin said.
"There was a great political effort and we managed to find
some common ground with the USA too".
The health minister said the document "recalled the position
of the the USA", which has pulled out of the Paris climate
agreement.
But the American team also "accepted the impact of climate
factors on people's health" Lorenzin said.
The final statement said climate and environmental-connected
factors can "aggravate existing health risks and create new
threats".
It cited the need to raise the public's awareness on the
impact that such factors can have on health.
Italy, France, Canada, Germany, the US, Japan and Great
Britain collectively pledged to help 500 million people out of
famine and malnutrition by 2030 and to "attain by 2020 the
eco-sustainable management of chemical substances and waste to
reduce to the minimum the negative impact on human health and
the environment" of potentially harmful factors.
Countries will also work to reduce emissions in urban areas
by promoting innovative solutions including "sustainable
mobility", the document said.
It also focused on the need to support migrants providing,
among other things, "healthcare services, in particular
immunization programs for migrants and refugees also in
situations of forced movements and prolonged periods of crisis".
In general, the final document stressed "the importance of
boosting healthcare systems" so countries can grant universal
coverage without leaving anyone behind.
Speaking on the sidelines of the G7 meeting, Flavia Bustreo,
the World Health Organization's assistant director-general, told
ANSA that two billion euros have been pledged at the meeting for
2018 to a fund aimed at promoting the health of women and
children.
The pledge to the Global Financing Facility fund is aimed at
"implementing and improving the health" of women and children
"by promoting global strategies", Bustreo said.
Bustreo said the main objectives are "reducing maternal and
child mortality, with respectively about 300,000 and 5.6 million
deaths recorded every year worldwide, and cutting down teen
fatalities.
Roughly one million adolescents die every year in the world,
mainly due to road accidents, high-risk teen pregnancies and
sexually transmitted diseases, the WHO official said.
Bustreo also said on the sidelines of the meeting that 90% of
cities and towns assessed by the WHO, including Italian ones,
don't abide by the organization's air quality guidelines, with a
"direct impact on the health of women, children and the
elderly".
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