Experts warn that climate change poses a major and growing threat to human health around the world, with record temperatures, extreme weather events, air pollution and the spread of infectious diseases.
The latest round of UN climate talks begins next week during what is expected to be the hottest year on record and with climate skeptic Donald Trump re-elected as US president.
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 raise global temperatures are on the rise, 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 Observing Program (Copernicus) reported this week that 2024 is “almost certain” that 2024 will surpass last year and become the hottest year in recorded history.
Of the 15 ways climate change is affecting health, 10 are now at “alarming record numbers,” according to the latest report by experts at The Lancet Countdown, which tracks the effects of climate change.
The report indicated that the number of people over the age of 65 who died due to heat has increased by 167 percent since the 1990s, which is one of the recorded records.
Extreme heat causes many health problems, such as kidney disorders, strokes, adverse pregnancy outcomes, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, organ failure, and ultimately death.
“This year has highlighted the increasing consequences 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 led to the death of 700 people and more than 40,000 cases of heatstroke in India, while the rains, “which have become more heavy due to climate change,” caused a dam to collapse in Nigeria, killing 320 people, and 48 out of 50. An American state “suffering from moderate or severe drought.”
Meanwhile, Spain is trying to recover from the worst floods it has seen in a generation, while parts of the United States and Cuba are beginning to return to normal after recent hurricanes.
Also, droughts, floods and other extreme weather events are expected to damage global crops, leading to increased hunger in many regions.
Air pollution
99% 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 poses a risk comparable to the effect of tobacco.
About 7 million premature deaths annually are linked to air pollution, according to the World Health Organization.
Last week, Lahore, the second largest city in Pakistan, recorded air pollution that reached 40 times the level that the World Health Organization considers acceptable.
In better news, the Lancet Countdown report found that deaths from air pollution linked to fossil fuels fell by about 7 percent from 2016 to 2021, mainly 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 mosquito-borne malaria that 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. During the past year, a global record number of infections with this virus was recorded, amounting to more than 5 million infections.
Storms and floods also leave stagnant water that forms a fertile breeding ground for mosquitoes, and also increases the risk of waterborne diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and diarrhea.