UN Climate Conference (COP28) focused on climate-related health issues, while discussions behind closed doors addressed vital other problems, such as the future of energy.
The UAE and several charities at the climate summit on Sunday offered $777 million in funding to eradicate neglected tropical diseases that are expected to worsen as temperatures rise.
COP28 President Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber said in a statement that climate-related factors "have become one of the greatest threats to human health in the 21st century."
The pledges made during the summit on Sunday, which focused on climate-related health risks, included $100 million from the UAE and another $100 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Others to announce funds for climate-related health issues included Belgium, Germany, and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
The World Bank launched a program to explore possible support measures for public health in developing countries where climate-related health risks are incredibly high.
The burden of tropical diseases will worsen as the world warms, along with other climate-driven health threats, including malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress.
More than 120 countries have signed a COP28 declaration acknowledging their responsibility to keep people safe amid global warming.
Climate change also increases the frequency of dangerous storms and more erratic rainfall.
In September, Storm Daniel killed more than 11,000 people in Libya, and last year's massive flooding in Pakistan fueled a 400 percent increase in malaria cases across the country, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Earlier on Sunday, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said scientists were working on new treatments for and prevention of mosquito-spread malaria as the rise in temperatures creates more hospitable habitat for the insects to breed.
"We have new tools at the lab level that decimate mosquito populations," said Gates, whose foundation supports public health research and projects for the developing world.
"These innovations give us a chance, at a reasonable cost, to make progress."
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke on Sunday, urging reform of the global insurance system as another key demand to keep people safe.
"Right now, insurance companies are pulling out of so many places; they're not insuring homes, they're not insuring businesses," Clinton said, addressing a panel on women and climate resiliency.
She continued, "People everywhere will be left out with no backup, no insurance for their business or home."
Meanwhile, Emirates News Agency (WAM) quoted a senior World Bank official saying that the bank had offered to host the Lost and Damage Fund.
Speaking to WAM, World Bank's Senior Managing Director (SMD) Axel van Trotsenburg said the agency will "work very closely with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) to create that fund."
Van Trotsenburg mentioned that countries face different challenges related to climate change.
"COP28 started with great announcements on the Loss and Damage Fund. It has been an extremely important decision and now needs to be set up."
He pointed out that small island countries with rising sea levels face different challenges than coastal regions. Therefore, solutions must be tailored to each country, but there is a global challenge.
"We need to be global. We need all countries to participate in this global challenge," van Trotsenburg noted, adding, "We need to ensure that we can keep the 1.5 degrees. So that means consequences for all of us."
