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The potential impacts of climate change on health will be significant and wide-ranging. The evidence is strongest for adverse impacts on health due to heat and cold (Chapter 2), flooding (Chapter 3), and vector-borne disease (VBD, Chapter 8) risks increasing under a warming climate.
23 hours ago · However, communities on the frontline of climate change are among those worst affected. A wide range of socio-economic factors affect whether people can lead healthy lives. They include people’s access to food, housing and water , access to healthcare, the extent to which they face marginalization because of racism, xenophobia, homophobia and sexism , and whether they live in a healthy ...
- Key Facts
- Overview
- Climate Change and Equity
- Need For Urgent Action
- Who Response
Climate change is directly contributing to humanitarian emergencies from heatwaves, wildfires, floods, tropical storms and hurricanes and they are increasing in scale, frequency and intensity.Research shows that 3.6 billion people already live in areas highly susceptible to climate change. Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250 000 additional deaths...The direct damage costs to health (excluding costs in health-determining sectors such as agriculture and water and sanitation) is estimated to be between US$ 2–4 billion per year by 2030.Areas with weak health infrastructure – mostly in developing countries – will be the least able to cope without assistance to prepare and respond.Climate change presents a fundamental threat to human health. It affects the physical environment as well as all aspects of both natural and human systems – including social and economic conditions and the functioning of health systems. It is therefore a threat multiplier, undermining and potentially reversing decades of health progress. As climati...
In the short- to medium-term, the health impacts of climate change will be determined mainly by the vulnerability of populations, their resilience to the current rate of climate change and the extent and pace of adaptation. In the longer-term, the effects will increasingly depend on the extent to which transformational action is taken now to reduce...
To avert catastrophic health impacts and prevent millions of climate change-related deaths, the world must limit temperature rise to 1.5°C. Past emissions have already made a certain level of global temperature rise and other changes to the climate inevitable. Global heating of even 1.5°C is not considered safe, however; every additional tenth of a...
WHO’s response to these challenges centres around 3 main objectives: 1. Promote actions that both reduce carbon emissions and improve health: supporting a rapid and equitable transition to a clean energy economy; ensuring that health is central to climate change mitigation policy; accelerating mitigation actions that bring the greatest health gains...
1 day ago · More than ever, the climate crisis is becoming a health crisis. An estimated 5 million people globally die each year because of suboptimal temperatures,1 with a large proportion of heat-related mortality (37%) attributable to human-induced climate change.2 The last few years have been the hottest on record and high temperatures claimed over 60 000 lives in Europe alone in 2022, with cities the ...
Apr 7, 2021 · Climate change arguably represents one of the greatest global health threats of our time. Health professionals can advocate for global efforts to reduce emissions and protect people from climate change; however, evidence of their willingness to do so remains scarce. In this Viewpoint, we report findings from a large, multinational survey of health professionals (n=4654) that examined their ...
- John Kotcher, Edward Maibach, Jeni Miller, Eryn Campbell, Lujain Alqodmani, Marina Maiero, Arthur Wy...
- 2021
Climate change threatens to disrupt health systems' ability to deliver high-quality care and undermine the past 50 years of gains in public health, with more intense heatwaves, higher risks of flooding and damaging storms, and a changing pattern of emerging infectious diseases. 1 Responsible for some 4–5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, the health-care sector has a vital role to play in ...
The health impacts of climate change will increase in the absence of sufficient mitigation of greenhouse gases and adaptation to a warming climate. This briefing outlines how people’s health is directly and indirectly affected by climate change and what can be done to reduce these impacts.
