Rising climate shocks threaten health in 2026 — here’s how to respond

As governments enter 2026 facing tightening budgets and escalating climate shocks, the people least responsible for the climate crisis are bearing the heaviest health consequences. Heat stress, disease outbreaks, disrupted clinics, insecurity, and hunger are accelerating faster than health systems can adapt. Unless global action changes course, essential health care will continue to slip further out of reach for millions.

For me, as both a veterinarian and a U.K. parliamentarian, the message is inescapable. The health of humans, animals and the environment is tightly interwoven, and climate stress is unravelling that balance. The rise of zoonotic spillover, antimicrobial resistance, and heat-driven disease patterns is not theoretical — it is happening in communities on the front line right now.

But behind every climate-driven health shock lies an equally urgent reality: Countries cannot strengthen their health systems if they lack the fiscal space and technical support to respond.