The Ministry of Health and Welfare has worked out details, including evaluation methods, for implementing a system that allows it to reflect the impact of climate change on public health in making future policies.

The revision of the enforcement decree on the Framework Act on Health and Medical Services outlining the details of the assessment system passed a Cabinet meeting Tuesday.

The amendment comes as a follow-up to the changes to the law made in February, which announced the government’s intention to introduce the evaluation system that examines the impact of climate change on public health. The assessment system will go into effect next Wednesday.

According to the revision, the evaluation will include types and contents of climate change that affect public health, clinical symptoms, occurrences and treatment processes of diseases and ailments related to climate change, distribution and characteristics of diseases and illnesses related to climate change by sex, age and region, and the effects the climate change has on the health of vulnerable classes.

The ministry of health and welfare also can conduct fact-finding surveys on the outbreaks and treatment processes of diseases to assess the effects of climate on health and announce the results if necessary for protecting and managing the public health.

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