From October 9th to 13th, 2024, the World Health Organization's (WHO) Global Environmental Health Conference and the meetings of the WHO Global Advisory Panel on Health Technologies (GAPH-TAG) and the WHO Scientific Advisory Group (SAG) were successfully held at Peking University Health Science Center (PKUHSC).

The conference was jointly organized by the WHO and PKUHSC, jointly undertaken by Peking University School of Public Health, Peking University College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, and Tsinghua University Department of Earth System Science, and co-sponsored by the Youth Committee of the Chinese Environmental Mutagen Society.

The chairpersons of the conference were Dr. Maria Neira, Director of WHO Environmental Health Division, and Professor Huang Wei from PKU School of Public Health.

The WHO Global Environmental Health Conference was held on October 9, 2024 with the theme of "Towards a Healthier Future: Bridging Air Pollution, Climate Change, Energy and Health". The conference adopted such forms as keynote speeches, roundtable forums and expert dialogues. By facilitating in-depth exchanges and dialogues among experts from different fields, it promoted the transformation of cutting-edge research and achievements in the field of environmental health into policies, thus contributing wisdom and solutions to global environmental health governance. More than one hundred people attended the conference offline, including experts and scholars from higher education institutions in Europe, the Americas, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, representatives of science and technology enterprises, as well as representatives from international organizations such as the WHO and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. Meanwhile, the conference also launched a live online broadcast simultaneously.

Group Photo

Keynote speeches (from upper left to lower right): Dr. Heather Adair-Rohani, Academician Tao Shu, Professor Luo Yong, Professor Huang Wei

Roundtable Forum (from left to right): Associate Professor Zou Zhiyong (Moderator), Director Maria Neira, Professor Ren Minghui, Researcher Shi Xiaoming, Researcher Liu Qiyong, Managing Director Sun Yan

Specially invited reports (from upper left to lower right): Dr. Sumi Mehta (online), Professor Jon Samet, Dr. Gregor Kiesewetter, Dr. Caradee Wright, Dr. Ajay Pillarisetti, Associate Professor Hung Lam Yim, Assistant Professor Ajay Pillarisetti, Professor Kalpana Balakrishnan (online)

Roundtable Forum (from left to right): Assistant Professor Gao Xu (Moderator), Professor Jon Samet, Professor Kan Haidong, Professor Cai Wenjia, Assistant Professor Ajay Pillarisetti, Associate Professor Shen Guofeng, Associate Professor Liu Yingjun

From October 10th to 13th, 2024, officials from the WHO Environmental Health Division and more than eighty international experts from the GAPH-TAG/SAG advisory groups around the world conducted a four-day special seminar and closed-door meeting on the global environmental health policy and action roadmap in a combined online and offline manner. Domestic experts in relevant fields were invited to attend the meeting as observers. During the meeting, the participating experts had in-depth discussions on current hot environmental health policy issues, including the analysis of air pollution exposure and health impacts from specific sources, the health impacts of combined exposure to climate and air pollution, the health impacts of sandstorms and wildfires, indoor air pollution and health, as well as the path of global environmental health governance.

The WHO Global Environmental Health Conference and the High-level Advisory Group Meeting have successfully completed all the scheduled agendas, establishing a new paradigm for promoting the cooperation of international environmental health governance featuring "research focus - policy coordination - practical innovation".

Written by: Wu Zhaoxia

Edited by: LiuXi

Source: School of Public Health