The aim of this guidance is to enhance the capacity of health care facilities to protect and improve the health of their target communities in an unstable and changing climate; and to empower health care facilities to be environmentally sustainable, by optimizing the use of resources and minimizing the release of waste into the environment. This document aims to: - Guide professionals working in health care settings to understand and effectively prepare for the additional health risks posed by climate change. - Strengthen capacity to effectively conduct surveillance of climate-related diseases; and monitor, anticipate, manage and adapt to the health risks associated with climate change. - Guide health care facility officials to work with health determining sectors (including water and sanitation, energy, transportation, food, urban planning, environment; - Provide tools to assist health care facility officials assess their resilience to climate change threats etc. - Promote actions to ensure that health care facilities are constantly and increasingly strengthened and continue to be efficient and responsive to improve health, and contribute to reducing inequities and vulnerability within their local settings. The targeted audience is health care facilities and health care and public health agents.

This supplement to the WHO WASH strategy 2018-2025 further elaborates the direction and role of WHO’s work at the interface of WASH, climate change and health until 2030. It summarizes WHO’s interventions on WASH and climate resilience under the current strategy through authoritative guidelines, technical assistance, and evidence for policymaking. It describes how WHO will increase focus and impact on adaptation and mitigation measures that build health resilience through WASH in the face of a changing climate. The supplement identifies actions under seven focus areas. These include monitoring, climate resilience through WASH risk management, climate-resilient health care facilities, research, environmental surveillance and early warning, controlling the spread of vector-borne disease, health policy and implementation and WASH integration within Integrated Water Resources Management.

This is the 2024 update of the Compendium of WHO and other UN guidance on health and environment. The Compendium is a comprehensive collection of available WHO and other UN guidance for improving health by creating healthier environments. It provides an overview and easy access of more than 500 actions, and a framework for thinking about health and environment interventions. It covers a broad range of areas such as air pollution, water, sanitation and hygiene, climate change, chemicals, radiation, or food systems. Guidance is classified according to principal sectors involved, level of implementation (national, community, health care), the type of instrument (taxes, infrastructure etc.) and the category of evidence. The Compendium compiles existing guidance from hundreds of documents in a simple and systematized format. To ensure the most up-to-date information is provided to the end users, the Compendium is updated on a regular basis and incorporates the latest major WHO or other UN guidance on health and environment. The target audience includes any decision-makers with relevance to health and environment, and those assisting them (such as mayors, staff in ministries, UN country staff etc.). The Compendium has been prepared by WHO in cooperation with UN Environment, UNDP and UNICEF.