Dr. Dapeng Luo, World Health Organisation, Representative n Pakistan

Dr. Dapeng Luo has been consistent in his message since taking charge of WHO’s operations in Pakistan: climate change is not a future health threat, it is a present one. He has watched rising temperatures and repeated flooding drive malaria cases upward across endemic districts, trigger mass cholera outbreaks, and worsen child malnutrition in communities that were already struggling. His response has been to push for health systems that are built for this reality, with medicines prepositioned before monsoons arrive and response teams that move before the damage is done. He has made clear that saving lives in Pakistan today means accepting that the climate crisis and the health crisis are the same crisis.