Climate change and human health in the urban environment of the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East: A workshop report

Fragkeskos Kekkou; Niki Paisi; Aayushi A. Sharma; Kamil Erguler; George K. Christophides; Jos Lelieveld; Marco Neira; Fragkeskos Kekkou; Niki Paisi; Aayushi A. Sharma; Kamil Erguler; George K. Christophides; Jos Lelieveld; Marco Neira

doi:10.3934/publichealth.2026047

AIMS Public Health

2026, Volume 13, Issue 3: 881-908. doi: 10.3934/publichealth.2026047

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Conference report

Climate change and human health in the urban environment of the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East: A workshop report

1.
Climate and Atmosphere Research Center (CARE-C), The Cyprus Institute, Nicosia, Cyprus
2.
Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK
3.
The Cyprus Institute, 20 Konstantinou Kavafi Street, Nicosia 2121, Cyprus
4.
Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany
† These three authors contributed equally.

Received: 02 February 2026 Revised: 24 May 2026 Accepted: 22 June 2026 Published: 24 August 2026

The Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (EMME) is a region comprised of 18 countries that are home to approximately 460 million people. This region spans across three continents and has been identified as a hotspot for climate change. As part of ongoing efforts to understand the potential impacts of climate change on public health in this part of the world, the scientific workshop “Climate and Health in the Urban Environment” was held on September 24–25, 2024, in the cities of Nicosia and Larnaca (Cyprus). The workshop brought together regional experts from diverse fields and aimed to assess emerging health risks, identify research gaps, and propose policy interventions with a focus on urban environments in the EMME region. Specific thematic sessions covered the topics of extreme temperatures, vector-borne diseases, and air quality. Here, we present a synthesis of the talks, discussions, and outcomes from the workshop, highlighting the latest findings on climate-related health risks in the EMME. Furthermore, we propose a series of recommendations for informing research and policy decisions in the region.
- climate change,
- human health,
- Middle East,
- Eastern Mediterranean,
- heat,
- extreme temperature,
- air pollution,
- air quality,
- disease vector,
- vector-borne diseases
Citation: Fragkeskos Kekkou, Niki Paisi, Aayushi A. Sharma, Kamil Erguler, George K. Christophides, Jos Lelieveld, Marco Neira. Climate change and human health in the urban environment of the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East: A workshop report[J]. AIMS Public Health, 2026, 13(3): 881-908. doi: 10.3934/publichealth.2026047

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Abstract

The Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (EMME) is a region comprised of 18 countries that are home to approximately 460 million people. This region spans across three continents and has been identified as a hotspot for climate change. As part of ongoing efforts to understand the potential impacts of climate change on public health in this part of the world, the scientific workshop “Climate and Health in the Urban Environment” was held on September 24–25, 2024, in the cities of Nicosia and Larnaca (Cyprus). The workshop brought together regional experts from diverse fields and aimed to assess emerging health risks, identify research gaps, and propose policy interventions with a focus on urban environments in the EMME region. Specific thematic sessions covered the topics of extreme temperatures, vector-borne diseases, and air quality. Here, we present a synthesis of the talks, discussions, and outcomes from the workshop, highlighting the latest findings on climate-related health risks in the EMME. Furthermore, we propose a series of recommendations for informing research and policy decisions in the region.

Abbreviations

EMME

Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East

VBDs

vector-borne diseases

EWS

early warning systems

DSS

decision support systems

PAHs

polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

particulate matter

PM_2.5

particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 µm

Acknowledgments

K.E., M.N., and J.L. are supported by the EMME-CARE project, which receives funding from the European Union's (EU) Horizon 2020 Program, Grant Agreement No. 856612, as well as complementary funding by the Government of Cyprus. F.K. is supported by the PREVENT project, which receives funding from the EU's Horizon Europe Program, Grant Agreement No. 101081276. N.P. is supported by the ACCREU project, which receives funding from the EU's Horizon Europe Program, Grant Agreement No: 101081358. A.A.S. received funding from Imperial College London's Life Sciences European Studies Fund.
The authors thank the following researchers for their participation in the workshop “Climate and Health in the Urban Environment”: Robin Fears, Christos Giannaros, Itamar Grotto, Hila Oren, Dominic Royé, Anastasia Paschalidou, Felipe Colón, Schlomit Paz, John Vontas, Youmna M'ghirbi, Jonilda Kushta, Assaf Hochman, Omar Hahad, Nikolaos Mihalopoulos, Andrea Pozzer, Panayiotis Kouis, and Wiessam Abu Ahmad.
The authors also thank the following creators from flaticon.com for the open-access icons used to design figures in this paper: AomAm, Flat Icons, Freepik, Surang, Suraiya Mili, and Yudhi Restu (for Figure 2); Freepik, Karyative, Mynamepong, rsetiawan, and xnimrodx (for Figure 3).

Authors' contributions

Conceptualization, J.L., K.E., G.K.C., M.N.; methodology, F.K., N.P., A.A.S., M.N.; data curation, F.K., N.P., A.A.S.; writing—original draft preparation, F.K., N.P., A.A.S., M.N.; writing—review and editing, F.K., N.P., A.A.S., J.L., K.E., G.K.C., M.N.; visualization, F.K., M.N.; supervision, M.N.; funding acquisition, J.L., G.K.C., M.N. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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