WHO: Climate change is the biggest health threat facing humanity Sciences

On December 3, the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai will host for the first time a “Health Day” as part of the climate negotiations, which puts on the table for discussion a problem that scientists have long pointed out, which is that climate change is close to being present. Our bodies to an extent we cannot imagine.

The average person in any country around the world believes that climate change only means an increase in the average temperature, but this is far from true, as climate change affects everything, raising the rates of extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts, and floods.

In addition, the warming of the planet affects human health, and the World Health Organization described climate change as the greatest health threat facing humanity, and the organization warned that the rise in global average temperatures must stop at the Paris Agreement goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius to avoid health effects. catastrophic and prevent millions of deaths linked to climate change.

According to the organization, research in this scope indicates that climate change between 2030 and 2050 is expected to cause about 250,000 additional deaths annually, and the costs of direct damage to health due to climate change will be estimated at between 2 and 4 billion US dollars annually by 2030. .

Heat stress

Climate change affects human health in direct and indirect ways. Extreme heat waves, for example, can cause high rates of heat stress, which is the body’s inability to adapt to extreme heat.

Heat stress causes medical problems that begin with symptoms of thirst and dehydration and may lead to thermal shock during which the person suffers a severe headache, ending with a complete loss of consciousness with convulsion. If the condition is not treated, the matter may lead to death. Heat stress particularly affects groups who work outside in contact with the sun, such as construction workers and traffic police.

A study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters in 2020 showed that heat stress caused by extreme heat and humidity will annually affect areas now inhabited by 1.2 billion people by 2100, assuming greenhouse gas emissions remain constant at the current level.

heart failure

The impact of rising average temperatures on health extends beyond that. A study published in the journal Risk Analysis collected data on maximum temperature in the US state of Minnesota and compared it to deaths in the same state between 1998 and 2014, and emergency department visits from 2005 to 2014. In 2014, she found a relationship between the two workers.

According to the study, it became clear that there is a link between climate change and the risk of cardiovascular disease and respiratory disease, which can lead to death.

This is not new, as more than 70,000 additional deaths were recorded during the heat wave that occurred in the summer of 2003 in the continent of Europe. According to a study conducted by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, the number of heat-related deaths during the summer of 2022 in Europe after the deadly heat wave exceeded 70,000 cases, and some of these cases were related to cardiovascular diseases.

According to The Lancet Countdown report issued last November, the number of people over the age of 65 who died due to heat increased by 85% in the period from 2013 to 2022, compared to the period from 1991 to 2000.

Infectious diseases

The matter goes further, as changes in temperature and precipitation can change the lifestyle, distribution and behavior of insects that transmit bacterial infections, which are usually active in more humid and hot weather, which may lead to changes in the maps of infectious diseases in an undesirable manner. is expected.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control, mild winters and warmer summers make it easier for these and other infectious diseases to expand into new geographic areas and infect more people. The center gives an example of what happened in 2012, when a mild winter, early spring, and hot summer paved the way for an outbreak of West Nile virus disease in the United States, which led to more than 5,600 people becoming infected with the disease and 286 deaths.

The center identifies a number of diseases that are expected to become more common due to global warming, including anthrax, antibiotic-resistant infections, dengue fever, giardia, hantavirus, salmonellosis, West Nile virus disease, and others.

Anxiety and depression

The matter does not stop at physical health only, but extends to mental health, as statistics indicate that 20 to 50% of people who live in extreme climatic conditions are more vulnerable to anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, sleep disorders, and even thinking about… Suicide.

Researchers in this area point out that the rates of concern about the environmental, political, and health impacts of climate change, also known as “climate anxiety,” are rising year after year, as people develop intense feelings of uncertainty, anxiety, sadness, and despair about the future.

Climate change affects all aspects of public health, whether directly or indirectly, and unfortunately, places with weak health infrastructure, most of which are in developing countries, will be the least able to bear unless they receive the necessary assistance to prepare for and respond to these climate disasters.