Health and environmental issues in the Aral Sea region to be discussed at RES 2026

The World Health Organization (hereinafter – WHO) and the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan will hold a session on health and environmental issues in the Aral Sea region, with an expanded focus on the Caspian region countries, within the framework of the Regional Ecological Summit 2026 (hereinafter – RES), which will take place in Astana on 22–24 April. 

The panel session titled “Protecting Future Generations: Health at the Center of the Environmental Agenda – Lessons and Solutions from the Aral Sea Region” will be held on 22 April. 

The event will be attended by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Minister of Health of Kazakhstan Akmaral Alnazarova, WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge, WHO Special Representative on Climate and Health Robb Butler, Chair of the Pan-European Commission on Climate and Health Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Europe Tatiana Molcean, as well as Ministers of Health of Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. 

As previously reported, the drying of the Aral Sea is one of the largest environmental disasters of the 20th–21st centuries, caused by the diversion of water from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers for irrigation. In place of what was once the world’s fourth-largest lake, the Aralkum Desert has formed, from which winds carry approximately 100 million tons of toxic salts and dust annually.

In the Aral Sea region, the prevalence of eye and respiratory diseases, anemia, diabetes, and malignant neoplasms is increasing. Since the 1960s, the incidence of ischemic heart disease has increased 18-fold, pneumonia 19-fold, and chronic bronchitis 30-fold. Poor drinking water quality has led to a rise in kidney stone disease: among rural populations in Karakalpakstan, incidence has increased 4.2 times. The region also records extremely high rates of child mortality and morbidity. According to scientists, at least 46.4% of respiratory diseases in children are caused by sulfate air pollution due to dust storms; for adults, this figure is 38.9%.

It is expected that during the session, representatives of governments from Central Asia and the Caspian region, international organizations, and the expert community will develop joint solutions at the intersection of environment and public health.

Key objectives of the session:

• building political consensus on addressing environmental health risks in the Aral and Caspian regions;

• developing coordinated approaches to health and environmental issues;

• advancing the roadmap “Healthy Future in the Aral Sea Region”;

• expanding regional dialogue to the Caspian region countries, primarily Azerbaijan;

• strengthening intersectoral and transboundary cooperation.

Following the session, it is expected that a roadmap for the Aral Sea region will be agreed upon, and its approaches will be applied to reduce environmental health risks in the Caspian region.