Migration in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) is increasingly driven by climate change and environmental factors. These factors include rising temperatures, water scarcity, and extreme weather events. As climate-related stressors, they do not only impact environmental stability, but they also pose significant public health threats, such as the spread of infectious diseases, food and water insecurity, and health complications.

With the One Health approach recognizing the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health, a comprehensive framework for addressing these challenges may be developed. However, the evidence and research on this topic remains lacking with a limited research agenda set for the region.

To highlight these issues further, EMPHNET and RTI International conducted a webinar titled; “Climate Change, Migration, and Public Health: A One Health Approach to Building Resilience to Emerging Health Threats in EMR”, making it the 44^th in EMPHNET’s series of monthly webinars, the EMPHNET WEBi Series.

Hosted on December 17, 2024, the session featured three subject matter experts namely: co-chair for the WFPHA Environmental Health Working Group, Dr. Hannah Marcus; partner at Expectation State and senior research associate at the Refugee Law Initiative of the University of London,   Dr Lucy Hovil; and Climate, Environment, Energy, and DRR specialist at the World Vision Syria Response Program, Ms. Reem Halaseh. Furthermore, the session was facilitated by Global Green Strategist, Mr. Mohammad Asfour.  

Dr Hovil spoke about climate change impacts and migration in the Middle East. She stated that this region is one of the world’s most vulnerable regions to climate change. Its communities endure extremely high temperatures, desertification, water scarcity, degraded marine and coastal ecosystems, and high levels of air pollution. She also shared some alarming figures, naming this region home to 11 million registered refugees, and 12 million internally displaced persons (IDPs). She pointed out that conflict is a dominant factor within the region’s sociopolitical fabric, while she added that many migrants live in informal settlements that are not conducive to high temperatures, or prone to flooding and other environmental challenges. She then ended her presentation by affirming the link between climate change, health, and environment.

In her presentation titled “Climate Change, Migration, and Health in the EMR” Dr. Marcus stated that there is a strong link between climate change, migration, and health, whereby climate change is a risk multiplier for poor migrant health. In the EMR, this connection leads to vector-borne diseases, waterborne diseases, heat-related morbidity and mortality, psychosocial trauma, and poor mental health. This situation is further exasperated by indirect challenges including poor access to healthcare, as well as poor access to food, water, sanitation, and shelter. She further added that there are significant research gaps pertaining to the region, and that policy change is paramount. More specifically, she stated that there is a pressing need to build climate-resilient, migrant-inclusive health systems, while piloting new climate adaptation and health initiatives in displacement settings. 

In the last presentation for the session, Ms. Halaseh spoke about the city of Amman in particular, stating that it is home to several challenges linked to climate change including urbanization, rapid population growth, an influx of refugees, weak public transportation, pressure on infrastructure, air pollution, and others. She further added that these lead to drought and flash floods, further stating that all these factors  affects population health.

Following the presentations, Mr. Asfour facilitated a Q&A session in which participants and attendees shared their views and incites on points presented.  

He then concluded the session with the consensus that from urban planning to public health systems, and from migration policies to cross-border collaboration, innovative multidisciplinary efforts are essential to ensure better health for migrants in light of climate change. He also stressed the need for actionable solutions rooted in robust research and evidence moving forward. He added that this is only the starting point of this discussion, and that further avenues are needed to explore this pressing topic further.  

Over 340 public health professionals attended the webinar, deeming it another success in the EMPHNET WEBi Series. 

Watch the webinar recording Here