Background
As part of its COP31 Action Agenda, the Presidency of Türkiye has identified Dynamic and Resilient Health Systems as a priority area and is developing the Antalya Initiative for Resilient Health Systems (AIR). The initiative aims to strengthen the preparedness, response and adaptation capacities of health systems in the face of growing climate-related health risks, while creating an international platform through which countries can exchange experiences, good practices and practical solutions.
AIR provides an important opportunity to build on the momentum generated by previous COP Presidencies and move the climate and health agenda increasingly towards implementation at country and health-system level.
Health professionals and the broader health workforce will be fundamental to achieving this ambition.
This joint submission from global health professional networks therefore proposes a health workforce pillar within AIR, recognizing health professionals not only as essential beneficiaries of resilient health systems, but as critical actors in their design, implementation and transformation.
Through their professional associations and networks, health professionals can also provide a bridge between global ambition, national policy, healthcare institutions and the communities they serve.
Why the health workforce matters for resilient health systems
There can be no resilient health system without a resilient, prepared and empowered health workforce.
Health professionals experience the health impacts of climate change first-hand. They care for people affected by extreme heat, air pollution, infectious diseases, food and water insecurity, extreme weather events and other climate-related health threats. Their frontline experience provides valuable knowledge about vulnerabilities within health systems and the practical measures needed to strengthen preparedness and response. At the same time, health professionals occupy several complementary roles that make them essential actors in climate-resilient health systems. They are:
- Frontline witnesses, identifying emerging climate-related health risks and vulnerabilities in healthcare delivery;
- Health promoters and trusted community voices, helping individuals and communities understand climate-related health risks and protective actions;
- Leaders and implementers within health systems, able to identify and introduce practical measures that strengthen resilience and environmental sustainability;
- Agents of change, translating evidence and policy commitments into changes in clinical practice and healthcare delivery;
Contributors to preparedness and emergency response, bringing practical frontline experience into planning for climate-related emergencies;
- Researchers and knowledge generators, contributing evidence on climate-related health risks, adaptation needs and effective interventions; and
- Advocates for health, ensuring that the health consequences of climate change remain visible within national and international climate decision-making.
Harnessing these roles requires moving beyond viewing the health workforce solely as an implementation resource. Health professionals should be actively engaged in the design, implementation and evaluation of climate-resilient health policies and systems.
Proposed Health Workforce Pillar under AIR
Global health professional networks propose working with the COP31 Presidency and AIR partners to develop a dedicated Health Workforce for Resilient Health Systems component of the initiative.
This could focus on six interconnected areas.
1. Establish and strengthen national health professional networks for climate-resilient health systems
Participating countries could establish or strengthen multidisciplinary national health professional networks linked to AIR.
These networks could bring together physicians, nurses, pharmacists, public health professionals, students and other health professions to exchange experience, identify country-specific challenges and solutions, and support implementation of national climate and health priorities.
National experiences and lessons could, in turn, feed into a global AIR health professional community of practice, creating a mechanism for peer-to-peer learning between countries and connecting with existing international platforms, including ATACH. Where strong national or regional health professional networks already exist, AIR should build upon and connect these structures rather than create parallel mechanisms.
2. Build climate and health competencies across the health workforce
Countries should be supported to integrate climate change, health-system resilience and environmentally sustainable healthcare into health professional education and lifelong learning.
This should span the professional lifecycle, including:
- early exposure through schools and youth engagement;
- undergraduate health professional education;
- postgraduate and specialty training;
- continuing professional development; and
- leadership development for health professionals responsible for healthcare institutions and systems.
Training should move beyond awareness of climate-related health risks towards developing the practical competencies required to anticipate risks, respond to climate-related events, strengthen healthcare resilience and implement sustainable healthcare practices.
3. Embed health professionals in the design of national resilience and preparedness plans
Health professionals should have meaningful representation in the development, implementation and evaluation of national climate and health strategies, health adaptation plans and emergency preparedness and response mechanisms.
Their frontline knowledge can help ensure that plans are realistic, context-specific and responsive to the needs of patients, communities and healthcare workers.
Mechanisms for health professional participation should therefore be embedded across local, national and international planning processes, rather than relying on ad hoc consultation.
4. Protect the health, safety and well-being of the health workforce
A resilient health system depends on a workforce that is itself resilient.
Climate change is increasing demands on health professionals through extreme weather events, disease outbreaks, displacement and other health emergencies, often in health systems already experiencing workforce shortages and high levels of stress.
AIR could encourage participating countries to incorporate health workforce protection and well-being into national climate resilience planning, including occupational protection, safe working environments, psychosocial support, preparedness protocols and measures to sustain workforce capacity during prolonged emergencies.
5. Enable health professionals to engage and empower communities
Health professionals consistently interact with individuals, families and communities and can help translate climate science into meaningful health information.
AIR could support health professionals with evidence-based tools and communication resources that enable them to discuss climate-related risks and solutions with communities, while recognizing community knowledge and priorities.
This would position health professionals not simply as messengers, but as trusted partners connecting communities, health systems and policymakers.
6. Strengthen country-level evidence and implementation research
AIR should encourage investment in country-level public health and implementation research to better understand:
- climate-related health vulnerabilities;
- health-system adaptation needs;
- workforce preparedness and capacity;
- effective and scalable resilience interventions;
- health co-benefits of climate action; and
- approaches that simultaneously strengthen healthcare access, quality, resilience and environmental sustainability.
Health professionals and their academic and professional institutions can play an important role in generating this evidence and translating it into policy and practice.
What Global Health Professional Networks Can Offer
Global health professional networks are ready to support the COP31 Presidency in developing and implementing the health workforce dimension of AIR.
Collectively, our networks can offer:
1. Access to health professionals across countries and regions
Connect the Presidency and participating countries with national and regional health professional associations, networks and frontline professionals who can contribute practical expertise to the design and implementation of resilient health-system strategies.
2. Country-level expertise and lived implementation experience
Identify health professionals and healthcare institutions with practical experience in climate resilience, emergency preparedness, sustainable healthcare and community engagement and bring these experiences into AIR's country-to-country learning platform.
3. Technical resources and implementation tools
Share existing guidance, training resources, policy recommendations, case studies and tools to support participating countries in translating commitments into action.
4. Capacity building
Support training and leadership development for health professionals on climate and health, health-system resilience, sustainable healthcare, advocacy and implementation.
5. Knowledge exchange
Convene health professionals across participating countries through webinars, peer-learning sessions and communities of practice to facilitate continuous exchange of experiences and solutions under AIR.
6. Health professional mobilization
Mobilize health professional associations and networks around AIR before, during and beyond COP31, strengthening visibility, participation and ownership of the initiative within the global health community.
7. Trusted messengers calling for enhanced climate action
Embedded in communities and among the most credible professions in many societies, healthcare professionals can play a vital role in building public support for more ambitious and health protective climate action.
Proposed Collaboration with the COP31 Presidency
As an immediate contribution in the lead-up to COP31, we propose working with the Presidency to:
- Convene a consultation with health professional networks to provide practical input into the design of AIR and its health workforce components;
- Develop a concise Health Workforce for Resilient Health Systems framework that could inform AIR implementation at country level;
- Identify country case studies and health professional champions demonstrating practical approaches to climate-resilient and sustainable healthcare;
- Establish the foundations for an AIR Health Professionals Community of Practice, connecting national health professional networks across participating countries; and
- Ensure meaningful health professional representation during COP31 Health Day, including opportunities for frontline health professionals to share implementation experiences and contribute to discussions on the future development of AIR.
Through this collaboration, the global health professional community stands ready to support the COP31 Presidency in ensuring that AIR is not only a platform for commitments and knowledge exchange, but a mechanism that helps countries translate climate and health ambition into practical, workforce-enabled transformation of health systems.
We commend the COP31 Presidency for its leadership on the critical issue of dynamic and resilient health systems. We also note the importance of ambitious outcomes from COP31 more broadly, recognising that climate action across sectors shapes the burden that ultimately falls on health systems.
Signatories:
Health Care Without Harm
International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation IPSF
Climate and Health Africa Network for Collaboration and Engagement
GroundWork
Canadian Medical Association
Alliance of Nurses for Health Environments
Doctors for Clean Air and Climate Action (DFCA)
RISE Southeast Asia
World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA)
World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA)
European Respiratory Society
Doctors for the Environment Australia
Public Health Foundation of India
Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa
Climate and Health Alliance
International Paediatric Association
Global Climate and Health Alliance
International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA)
Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE)