Countries in the Western Pacific region still have much work to be done in preparing for the effects of climate change, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.

In fact, the sharp rise in the extreme weather conditions had made it vital for member states in the region to step up the pace of preparedness, the 61st Session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific was told here on Thursday.

Regional director Shin Young-soo warned at the meeting here in Malaysia's federal administration center that the shift in weather patterns would almost certainly introduce mosquito-born diseases to areas where mosquitoes could not survive previously.

These diseases included malaria, and dengue that had become the fastest-growing mosquito-bord disease in the world, added Shin.

"Floods and droughts will tend to increase infectious waterborne diseases. Temperature and rainfall changes affect food production, and as such they affect nutrition and food security.

"And some of the islands of the Pacific face rising sea levels and the consequent loss of farm land, if not disappearance altogether," said Shin.

Shin urged countries and areas in the region to further strengthen health systems to protect populations from the threats posed by changing weather patterns.

"Governments need to put human health at the core of their climate change policies.

"They also need to strengthen and reform current systems, with an emphasis on clean water, immunization, disease surveillance, mosquito control and disaster preparedness," said Shin.

Floods and heat waves have caused major problems in countries in the region in terms of lives lost, an upsurge in injuries and diseases, and the number of houses de