Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) served as the secretariat supporting the release of an urgent statement, “Emergency Youth Statement to Protect Lives and the Future from Extreme Heat: Calling for Climate Action that Leaves No One Behind,” issued jointly by the Asian Medical Students’ Association Japan (AMSA Japan), the Japan Association for Global Health, Students Section (jagh-s), and the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations Japan (IFMSA-Japan).
Speaking from the standpoint of youth studying medicine and public health, the statement calls on the Japanese government to position the response to the climate crisis not merely as a medium- to long-term environmental protection measure, but as a top-priority social issue for protecting lives and health, learning, work, and healthcare systems.

■ Background and Significance of the Urgent Statement

In July 2026, days with extreme heat exceeding 40°C occurred one after another across Japan, and the number of people transported by ambulance for heatstroke exceeded 10,000 in a single week. In Europe as well, approximately 10,000 excess deaths were reported in just five countries by mid-July, making extreme heat a serious health crisis both in Japan and abroad. Its effects extend beyond heatstroke to schools, extracurricular activities, workplaces, and healthcare and welfare settings. The climate crisis is no longer a future environmental problem, but an urgent social issue that threatens lives and health, learning, work, and the healthcare delivery system today.

The burden imposed by the climate crisis is not shared equally by everyone. It varies greatly according to factors such as age, health status, income, and living and working environments, and it further widens existing health disparities. Measures against the heat are also needed in each setting, including schools, workplaces, and homes; yet constraints such as facilities, equipment, operational structures, and financial circumstances can make it impossible to respond adequately through the efforts of individuals or frontline settings alone. To reliably protect those who are vulnerable to the effects of heat, society as a whole must build environments where people can safely learn, work, and live, as well as mechanisms that connect people to necessary support, rather than relying on individual awareness.

Young people are already experiencing the effects of extreme heat on their health, learning, and opportunities for activity, and they are also the generation that will be affected the longest by the climate crisis as it grows more severe. In addition, youth studying medicine and public health will, in the future, be the ones who protect the health of patients and communities and implement countermeasures in healthcare and welfare settings. From both of these standpoints, as directly affected parties and as future practitioners, the statement calls for positioning the response to the climate crisis not merely as a medium- to long-term environmental protection measure, but as a top-priority social issue for protecting lives and health, learning, work, and healthcare systems.

On that basis, it urges the Japanese government and society to advance, in an integrated manner, adaptation measures that reduce the health harms already occurring and mitigation measures that curb the further progression of climate change.

■ Overview of the Statement
The statement makes recommendations built on the following three pillars.

1. Making “Planetary Health Education” for the Next Generation of Medical and Public Health Professionals Substantive and Linked to the Field
The statement calls for education on climate change and health, One Health, and planetary health to be implemented not merely as a formal provision in the system, but in a form that can be put into practice in educational settings and in healthcare and welfare settings. While the positioning of these topics within the model core curricula for medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, and nursing is progressing, the educational structures for connecting their content to practical learning and to action in the field cannot be said to be sufficient. It calls for advancing the training of faculty who can provide instruction, the development of teaching materials, and the expansion of practical exercises, while linking learning with initiatives in healthcare and welfare settings and pursuing systematic human resource development spanning from pre-graduate education to lifelong learning.

2. Institutionalizing Adaptation Measures That Protect Lives Across Society as a Whole
The statement calls for heatstroke countermeasures to be established as a mechanism of society, rather than left to the caution and effort of each individual alone. Specifically, it recommends installing air conditioning in schools and sports facilities, setting activity standards based on the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT), conducting local vulnerability assessments and establishing early warning systems, protecting healthcare and welfare workers, and introducing climate-adaptive social prescribing through which healthcare and welfare institutions connect people to community support. It also calls for securing stable funding to implement these measures continuously nationwide.

3. Substantially Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Transitioning to a Decarbonized Society That Leaves No One Behind
To curb the further worsening of the climate crisis and to protect people’s lives and health and the foundations of their livelihoods into the future, the statement calls for substantially and swiftly reducing greenhouse gas emissions and advancing the transition to a decarbonized society. For the healthcare and welfare fields as well, it recommends setting the reduction of energy consumption and emissions as clear goals and pursuing these efforts in a way that simultaneously enhances the health of patients and staff, the quality of care and working environments, and the continuity of services during disasters. At the same time, it calls for building mechanisms that do not widen disparities between regions or between institutions, by developing financial and technical support tailored to each institution’s circumstances, so that the costs and burdens of decarbonization are not shouldered by regional and small- and medium-sized healthcare institutions and welfare facilities, or on the staff who work there.

■ Founding Organizations and Secretariat

Founding organizations:

• Asian Medical Students’ Association Japan (AMSA Japan)
• International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations Japan (IFMSA-Japan)
• Japan Association for Global Health, Students Section (jagh-s)

Secretariat:

• Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI)

■ Endorsers

Organizations and individuals who have expressed their endorsement of this statement. 

The list of endorsing organizations and individuals is available here.

The statement continues to welcome endorsements from organizations and individuals. If you would like to endorse it, please register through the endorsement form here.
*The form is available in Japanese only.

■ Acknowledgments

In preparing this statement, we received valuable advice from the experts who serve on the Advisory Board of HGPI’s Planetary Health Project. We express our deepest gratitude. Among them, the following endorsed this statement. Please note that this statement does not represent the official views of the Advisory Board.

(Titles omitted, in no particular order)

Yukari Nakano (Executive Director, Japanese Nursing Association)
Naoki Kondo (Professor and Chair, Department of Social Epidemiology, Graduate School of Medicine and School of Public Health, Kyoto University)
Yusuke Sakurai (Secretary-General, Japan Zero Carbon Welfare Council)
Eisaku Kikuchi (Head, Office for Social and International Collaboration / Specially Appointed Associate Professor, One Health Research Center, Hokkaido University)
Hiroaki Matsuura (Vice President and Executive Director, Shoin University / Chair, Technical Advisory Group on the Economics of Environment, Climate Change, and Health, World Health Organization (WHO))

*The English version of this statement is scheduled to be released at a later date.

 

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■ About the Asian Medical Students’ Association Japan (AMSA Japan)
Asian Medical Students’ Association Japan (AMSA Japan), founded in 1980 by Shigeru Suganami, is a student organization that aims to build a human network for the improvement of medicine in Asia. Under the slogan “Let’s connect now for the future”, AMSA Japan works to build connections among medical students through a variety of experiences. Domestic activities include organizing workshops and medical training camps to connect medical students in Japan, writing articles and publishing a Japanese-English newsletter ‘eNewsletter’. International activities include short-term exchange programmes with Asian countries, participation in biannual international conferences, and organizing collaborative events with the countries to which they belong.

■ About the Japan Association for Global Health, Students Section (jagh-s)
Japan Association for Global Health, Students Section (jagh-s) is a student organization established in 2005. Its mission is to contribute to Japan and the international community by providing information and opportunities to students interested in global health in various fields nationwide without regional disparities, and by fostering human resources who can play an active role in the world. The organization plans and conducts study sessions on global health, participates in academic conferences of the Japan Association for International Health, and manages a new project, “Global Health Online Book.” The OBOG is actively working with a wide range of research institutes, government agencies, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations, including the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers.

■ About the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations Japan (IFMSA-Japan)
IFMSA-Japan is a student organization that operates under the philosophy of “developing healthcare professionals with a broad perspective through social contribution and connections with the international community, and aiming for a better society.” The Standing Committee on Public Health (SCOPH), which was responsible for this project, operates under the philosophy of “contributing to local communities through public health and aiming to become healthcare professionals with a broad perspective.” With the belief that a better world can be achieved when people become healthier, it aims to improve people’s health from various perspectives through awareness-raising activities, health education, and more.