Topic Summary

The ECOWAS committee on Climate Change and Global Health Systems will explore the complex and increasingly urgent relationship between environmental change and public health across West Africa. Delegates will examine how climate-driven challenges—including rising temperatures, extreme weather events, desertification, and shifting disease patterns—place strain on already vulnerable health systems in the region. The committee will also consider disparities in healthcare access, infrastructure limitations, and the role of regional coordination in strengthening resilience. Particular attention will be given to the spread of climate-sensitive diseases, food and water insecurity, and the need for early-warning and response mechanisms. Beyond immediate health impacts, delegates will engage with questions of economic capacity, governance, and international support, assessing how ECOWAS can foster collective action among member states. Ultimately, this committee will challenge delegates to develop innovative, cooperative solutions that address both the root causes and far-reaching consequences of climate change on public health systems.

Director’s Letter

Welcome Comrades,

It is my honour and pleasure to welcome you all to HNMUN 2026 in Boston. I will be serving as one of your Directors in this upcoming conference and cannot wait to see what all of you will bring to this year’s conference. Your problem solving skills, teamwork, and rhetoric will all be tested as you make alliances, backstab, and work every angle possible to come out of your committees victorious. There are friends to make and ideas to discover, I’m excited to meet you all.

My name is Henry Aronofsky, and I am a sophomore at Harvard University in Dunster House. Though I have yet to declare my major, I am planning on studying mechanical engineering. I have been involved in MUN throughout middleschool, highschool, and now college. It has truly been one of the most foundational and fulfilling extracurriculars I have undertaken. I’m from New York City and went to school in Brooklyn where, along with my school’s MUN team, I travelled the country and had the opportunity to engage in debate with people from all over America. Later on, near graduation, I had the privilege of running a couple committees and advising on my school’s MUN board. When I got to college I knew I had to continue pursuing my passion and became a part of IRC, The International Relations Council, which will be overseeing this program, as quickly as I could.

On top of my MUN obligations, I have become deeply involved in the theater community on campus and am an avid muscicion. I enjoy playing jazz bass and pit guitar for the various ensembles and productions that happen over the academic year.

I can’t wait to meet all of you and hear the solutions you propose to this year's roster of sophisticated problems. HNMUN 2026 is going to be great, see you soon.

Sincerely,

Henry Aronofsky

Director, Meltdown of Chernobyl, 1986

ecosoc@hnmun.org

Director’s LetteR

Esteemed Delegates,

Welcome to HNMUN Boston 2026! The coming days of the conference will be busy: you and your fellow delegates will be doing diligent research, engaging in tense negotiations, and ultimately drafting a pivotal body of policy to be implemented by the entire United Nations. But you will also be having a great time, I promise: among other things, you will make dozens of new friends and accumulate enough memories to last you a lifetime. In my view, this is the most valuable part of HNMUN, and it's the main reason why I’m so proud to be serving as your co-Director for this conference.

My name is Nicholas Hall, and I am a Junior at Harvard College, where I’m studying Applied Mathematics and Economics. My parents are from the United States, but they are diplomats (like you) and as a consequence I’ve grown up in many places around the world, including Canada, Italy, Belgium, Austria, and Indonesia. This international exposure has cultivated in me an appreciation for the richness of our world’s different cultures, as well as a passion for ensuring that we are able to cooperate as a global community, to bring about a positive future for all nations and peoples. For this reason, when I was your age – many years ago – I had a great time participating in Model United Nations conferences myself. Indeed, some of my fondest childhood memories are from the many MUN trips I attended with my school. I knew I wanted to continue participating in MUN in college, and it’s through Harvard’s International Relations Council (the organization which oversees many international programs) that I’ve had the opportunity to staff this conference the past two years, as well as international conferences in China, Australia, India, Panama, and Dubai.

I’m looking forward to meeting you all soon! This conference is going to be a good one.

Sincerely,

Nicholas Hall

Director, Meltdown of Chernobyl, 1986

ecosoc@hnmun.org