How does climate change affect health?

Experts warn that climate change is a major and growing threat to human health around the world, with higher temperatures, extreme weather events, air pollution and the spread of infectious diseases.

The latest round of UN climate talks begin next week in what is expected to be the hottest year on record and with climate skeptic Donald Trump re-elected as the president of the USA.

The negotiations of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) will be held in Azerbaijan as fossil fuel emissions that increase the global temperature continue to increase, with many countries exposed to devastating floods, droughts, heat waves and storms.

This week, the World Health Organization warned: “Climate change is making us sicker and urgent action is a matter of life and death.”

How does climate change affect health?

Extreme heat

The European Earth Observation Program (Copernicus) reported this week that 2024 is “almost certain” to surpass last year and become the hottest year in recorded history.

Of the 15 ways climate change is affecting health, 10 are now “at alarmingly high levels,” according to the latest report by experts at The Lancet Countdown, which monitors the effects of climate change.

The report indicated that the number of people over 65 who died due to heat has increased by 167 percent since the 1990s, which is one of the records that have been recorded.

Extreme heat causes many health problems, such as kidney disorders, strokes, poor pregnancy outcomes, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, organ failure, and ultimately death.

“This year has highlighted the growing impacts of rising temperatures on people’s health and well-being,” said Jenny Miller, director of the Global Climate and Health Alliance.

She pointed out that the extreme heat caused 700 deaths and more than 40,000 cases of heatstroke in India, while the rains, “which have become heavier due to climate change ,” dam collapse in Nigeria, killing 320 people, and 48 out of 50. American state “suffering from moderate or severe drought”.

Meanwhile, Spain is struggling to recover from its worst flooding in a generation, while parts of the United States and Cuba are beginning to return to normal after recent hurricanes. short.

Also, droughts, floods and other extreme weather events are expected to damage the world’s crops, leading to increased hunger in many areas.

Air pollution

99 percent of the world’s population breathes air that exceeds WHO air pollution guidelines.

This pollution has been shown to increase the risk of respiratory diseases, strokes, heart disease, lung cancer, diabetes and other health problems, which is a risk comparable to the effects of tobacco.

About seven million premature deaths each year are linked to air pollution, according to the World Health Organization.

Last week, Lahore, Pakistan’s second largest city, recorded air pollution that reached 40 times the level considered acceptable by the World Health Organization.

In better news, the Lancet Countdown report found that deaths from fossil fuel-related air pollution fell by about seven percent from 2016 to 2021, largely due to efforts to reduce pollution from burning coal.

Infectious diseases

Climate change also means that mosquitoes, birds and mammals will move from their former habitats, increasing the risk of the spread of infectious diseases including dengue, chikungunya, Zika, West Nile virus and malaria carried by mosquitoes which could spread more widely in a warming world. .

The risk of transmission from a single mosquito that spreads dengue fever has increased by 43% over the past 60 years, according to the Lancet Countdown magazine. In the past year, the highest number of infections with this virus was recorded, amounting to more than five million infections.

Storms and floods also leave stagnant water that is a fertile breeding ground for mosquitoes, and also increases the risk of water-borne diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and diarrhea.