Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has called for joint effort from the South Asian countries to tackle the increasing impacts of climate change.

Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal inaugurating the regional climate change conference by lighting traditional oil lamp in Kathmandu, Monday, Aug 31 09. nepalnews.com/rh

Addressing a regional conference on climate change in Kathmandu on Monday, Nepal said joint efforts are essential to lessen the impacts of climate change since the problem has affected all nations.

He further said the effects have already been explicitly observed in Himalayan nations and to tackle the problem Nepal government has formulated policies and allocated budget.

Named 'Kathmandu to Copenhagen', the conference brings in lawmakers, experts, journalists, policy makers from the region and beyond to discuss the impacts climate change in Himalayan region and strategies to be adopted to counter the challenges.

The outcome of the regional debates will be tabled as common voice of the region during the climate change international gathering in Copenhagen later this year.

Meanwhile, health ministers from the 11 member countries of World Health Organisation (WHO) in South-East Asia Region and WHO experts are scheduled to meet to discuss key health issues confronting member states in Kathmandu next week.

The health ministers will discuss the climate change and its impact on human health. Climate change is affecting all countries in the region, whether through rising sea levels, more frequent and violent natural disasters, or melting glacial ice.

The meeting will follow up on progress on the New Delhi Declaration on the Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health, adopted by the ministers in 2008, a statement issued by the WHO said.

Among other issues, the high-level meetings will discuss pandemic influenza preparedness, in the context of the sharing of influenza viruses for research, access to vaccines and other benefits.

The Regional Committee meeting that follows the gathering of Health Ministers will discuss the engagement of the private sector to meet national health systems goals.

The non-state sector plays a dominant role in provision of health services in region, more so than anywhere else in the world and even in the case of essential care like maternal and child health, WHO said further.

However, the sector is largely unregulated, with both cost as well as quality consequences for patients. nepalnews.com