The Robert Koch Institute's cross-sectoral efforts to address climate change and health

Abstract

Abstract The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) is Germany's national public health institute (NPHI). It recognises that climate change poses a significant threat to the health and wellbeing of people and that as an NPHI it has an important role to play. To reflect this, we have been strengthening our work on climate change and health in the institute, particularly in the last 18 months, guided by the “IANPHI Roadmap for Action on Health and Climate Change” amongst other resources. At the RKI, we see that our contribution on climate change and health is part of efforts together with an extensive landscape of actors, each with their own disciplinary and sector-specific expertise and resources. We have therefore been exploring our possible sector-specific contribution and further developing our cross-sectoral working in line with the institute's strategy for climate change and health. The RKI is also already underway with specific cross-sectoral exchange and projects on climate change and health. This includes taking part in the cross-sectoral German national agencies’ network on climate adaptation, carrying out a comprehensive and ambitious situation report on the evidence base on climate change and health in Germany, as well as through a cross-sectoral programme to develop new measurable climate adaptation goals as part of the German Adaptation strategy for Climate Change. This presentation will share how the RKI is developing and implementing its cross-sectoral contribution on climate change and health, and will include some lessons learnt and suggestions for how other health actors might be able to apply this learning for their own work. The presentation aims to: • illustrate how cross-sectoral work can be implemented and how use of the “health argument” can help with this; • stimulate thinking on how other health actors, including in the audience, might be able to engage in cross-sectoral working in their own fields and organisations.