ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A large health summit is taking place in Sulaimani on Thursday with the participation of over 2,000 people from countries around the world and over a dozen international organizations.
The third edition of the Kurdistan Health Summit is the largest health summit in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, taking place in the new University of Sulaimani campus under the supervision of Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid.
It involves the “participation of over 2,000 people from 38 different countries, 14 international organizations, and 25 local and international universities” according to the summit’s board, and will last for three days.
“About 2,000 people are expected to attend panels, workshops, focus sessions, activities, and meetings during the three days of the summit to discuss the most important issues of the health system, health services, public health, and climate change,” said Goshan Karadaghi, executive director of the summit and an international health expert.
Karadaghi added that the education sector will also participate in the summit alongside the health sector, calling it a “good incentive to work together and build decisions based on accurate data and information.”
The Kurdistan Health Summit is a partner of the World Health Summit, an international conference that has been held in Berlin every October since 2009.
Public health and climate change will be the main topics of discussion at this year’s summit.
Iraq is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, including through water and food insecurity, according to the United Nations. It is currently facing a severe water shortage because of reduced precipitation, higher temperatures, and waste and mismanagement. The crisis is worsened by the building of upstream dams in Turkey and Iran which have led to a significant decrease in the volume of water entering the country.
In a letter addressed to the Board of Environmental Protection and Improvement in February, the Kurdistan Region’s Council of Ministers approved a petition from the board to establish a climate change office. The office will consist of two departments: Mitigation and Loss and Damage.
Scorching temperatures exceeding 50 degrees Celsius were recorded in Iraq in 2023, coupled with water scarcity, desertification, and reduced rainfall.
According to the UN, over 130,000 people in southern Iraq are prone to displacement by the end of 2023 due to the effects of climate change.
At a climate conference in Basra in March 2023, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani announced a plan to plant five million trees to combat desertification, with private banks footing the bill for half a million of the trees.
