How should health policy adapt in the climate crisis?

As the world sinks deeper into the climate emergency, 2025 has witnessed even more record-breaking extreme weather events: the year started with the warmest January ever recorded globally, which was followed by unprecedented temperatures across Europe and the UK during summer heatwaves, causing thousands of deaths; a deluge of devastating storms and deadly flash flooding across Southeast Asia and the United States, affecting millions of lives; and recently, Hurricane Melissa – a category 5 hurricane, and the most intense storm to hit Jamaica since records began in 1851 – causing widespread destruction and death in Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba. Meanwhile, rapidly rising temperatures and changing weather patterns continue to cause relentless droughts and floods across Africa, driving millions of people into food insecurity, hunger and displacement.

The rapidly increasing human toll of this crisis calls for urgent, transformative and collaborative policymaking at the local, national and global levels. Repeated failures to protect communities across the globe from the devastating impacts of extreme weather demonstrate that the policies and systems currently in place are insufficient for protecting human health and promoting health equity in the current climate: systemic social and policy change is critically needed.

In order to discuss this urgent issue, the JHU-UPF Public Policy Center is delighted to invite three experts to present in the upcoming Policy Dialogues session: How should health policy adapt in the climate crisis? Power, health and the planet.

Sonia Angell: Sonia is a physician and expert in public health, policy and systems change with over 15 years’ experience in government, from the local to global level. She is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of the Practice at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the Department of Epidemiology, with a joint appointment in Environmental Health and Engineering. She is also an Assistant Clinical Professor at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Angell's research aims to increase public health and health care delivery system capacity to protect human health from the impacts of climate change. Previously, she served as Director of the California Department of Public Health, as Deputy Commissioner at the NYC Health Department, and as senior advisor on Global Noncommunicable Diseases at the CDC. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine.

Laila Vivas: Laila is a researcher and activist specialized in political ecology and ecofeminism, focusing on the intersections between environmental justice, health, and climate. She holds a Ph.D. in Social Communication from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), where her research explored transdisciplinary approaches to environmental and health injustice and conflict. She has experience in participatory facilitation, policy analysis, and science communication, including collaborations with networks and media outlets. Her work also combines academic research with creative and transdisciplinary methods, to explore how social and cultural imaginaries shape perceptions of health, climate, and sustainability.

Enrique Castro-Sanchez: Enrique combines positions as Advanced IPC Clinical Nurse Specialist at the national IPC team in the UK Health Security Agency (London, UK), honorary lecturer in infection at Imperial College London (London, UK), and adjunct professor in planetary health at UOC (Barcelona, Spain). He is also a visiting professor in global health at the University of Balearic Islands (Palma, Spain). Enrique’s research focuses on how people (clinicians, patients, citizens, and policymakers) make decisions and use antibiotics, and the factors and structures which influence such decisions. His clinical experience focuses on infections including HIV/Aids and tuberculosis, infection control, and antimicrobial stewardship. In 2016, Enrique was selected as Emerging Leader in International Infectious Diseases, and in 2017 he worked as Consultant for the World Health Organisation developing leadership education for national focal persons.

The online seminar will consist of presentations by the three experts, followed by a Q&A session with participants.

We look forward to exploring and debating this important issue with you - sign up now to join us on the 25th November!