The world is facing an unprecedented climate crisis induced by human activity. The concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is causing temperatures to rise, which in turn impacts our entire climate system. This situation has important consequences for human health. The severity and scale of these consequences depend on our capacity to take action and to both mitigate and adapt to climate change. In this context, robust and adequately prepared and equipped social health protection systems that are able to minimize the impact of the climate crisis on human health are needed. The climate crisis is projected to bring about a series of changes that will have a direct and indirect impact on human health. This Spotlight brief succinctly presents the current and future impacts of climate change on human health before identifying concrete pathways for an effective response to the climate crisis by social health protection systems.