Climate change in the Lao PDR has affected multiple domains, including health and migration. Intensified floods, droughts, and extreme weather had damaged infrastructure, reduced livelihoods, and driven both internal and cross-border migration. These impacts had disrupted health facilities, increased the incidence of climate-sensitive health risks, and further strained an already constrained health system. The most vulnerable groups had included outdoor labourers, particularly farmers, and border communities with limited access to essential health services.

Climate-induced migration, in the context of intensifying climate shocks and declining agricultural yields, has contributed to increased disease transmission and unpredictable patterns of healthcare access among migrants. It had also placed additional pressure on border health facilities. Future risks had included rising migration into high-risk, informal employment in host countries. In response, the Greater Mekong Subregion Border Areas Health Project had sought to enhance health services through upgraded infrastructure, improved water systems, and strengthened climate-resilient capacity-building.

In June 2025, multi-stakeholder consultations in Champasak, Savannakhet, and Phongsaly had mapped priority vulnerabilities among border communities and migrants. The findings informed Lao PDR’s climate change and health policies and plans, built on previous experiences, and guided integrated interventions to strengthen resilience pathways, improve healthcare planning, and promote regional collaboration. The webinar presented key lessons learned and proposed interventions to balance climate adaptation with broader health quality improvements, while offering recommendations to strengthen the climate resilience of communities and migrants, targeting policymakers, development partners, and health practitioners.