Türkiye launches the Antalya Initiative for Health Resilience as WHO asks climate presidencies to keep health on the agenda

9 November 2026

At a High-Level Roundtable on Advancing Health in the Global Climate Agenda at Antalya, the World Health Organization set out how health has entered climate diplomacy. Türkiye has launched the Antalya Initiative for Health Resilience as the COP31 host. The WHO Director-General traced a chain running back through five presidencies. The Belém Health Action Plan was Brazil's contribution, and the Baku COP Presidencies Coalition for Climate and Health was set up by Azerbaijan. A first Health Day at a COP came from the United Arab Emirates, while nutrition was tied to the climate question by Egypt. Earliest of the five was the United Kingdom, whose commitments on health systems low in carbon and able to stand the climate grew into the WHO Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health. WHO asked that the Alliance, the Belém plan and the Antalya Initiative work as one system for making and reporting commitments, and that presidencies get health into negotiated text and into climate finance. Ethiopia, which will host COP32, is the next partner WHO named.