15 April 2011: Hosted by the Vice Mayor of the city of Shanghai and supported by the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the World Bank, the International Symposium on Urban Health and Meteorology shared international experience in using meteorological information for public health, to inform the Shanghai Health Meteorology Service Programme.

This 10-year programme will deliver operational demonstration projects to improve: protection from a range of weather-related health risks in urban environments; research activities aimed at improving the understanding of human health, weather and climate; and international outreach and capacity building to facilitate the exchange of best practice within China, and globally.

The symposium included presentations by representatives of the health and climate communities at municipal and national levels, and from the international steering committee, WHO, WMO, World Bank, the Health and Climate Foundation, New York City Department of Health, University of Auckland, and Queensland University of Technology.

Key themes highlighted in the symposium included: the need for intersectoral partnerships that respond to public health needs; operational evaluation to assess success in terms of lives and resources saved; and the importance of embedding the system within the wider context of public health priority setting and surveillance systems, and within a vision of healthy, intelligent and sustainable cities. [WHO Website on Health and Climate Change] [IISD RS Sources]