Climate change is also a health emergency

Climate change is also a health emergency. Warming is creating conditions more favourable to the spread of deadly vector-borne diseases, such as dengue fever, malaria and Vibrio (cholera bacteria); it killed 296,000 seniors in 2018, and is reducing the yield of major crops. This is indicated by The Lancet Countdown report on Health and Climate Change.

No country, whether poor or rich, is spared the health impacts of the climate crisis, the report said. It states that if urgent action is not taken, warming will further threaten global health; it will alter the lives, livelihoods and livelihoods of much of the population, and overburden health systems.

“Threats to human health are multiplying and intensifying due to climate change; and, unless we change course, our health systems risk being overwhelmed in the future,” says Ian Hamilton, Executive Director of The Lancet Countdown. “The pandemic has shown us that when health is threatened on a global scale, our economies and ways of life can come to a standstill,” warns Ian Hamilton.

Climate change is affecting, for example, the risk of infectious diseases, including those transmitted by vectors, food and water.

Incidence of dengue

More and more suitable conditions are given

Since 1950, climate susceptibility to dengue fever transmission has increased by 8.9% for the yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti) and 15% for the tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus).

Between 2015-19, suitability for malaria transmission in mountainous areas has increased by 39% in the African region and by 150% in the WHO Western Pacific region compared to the 50s.

Although in Europe the climatic susceptibility of dengue remains low, in 2018 there was an increase of 36% and 41% (respectively for both species of vectors) in relation to the data of the 50s.

Also, since 1982 coastal areas prone to outbreaks of Vibrio infections (cholera bacteria) have grown by 61% in the Baltic countries, and by 99% in the northeastern United States.

54% increase among people over 65

Heat wave deaths

The report’s authors note that this year’s devastating wildfires in the United States as well as hurricanes and tropical storms in the Caribbean and Pacific (which occurred at the same time as the pandemic) illustrate the need to address these crises holistically.

In this sense, a unified and joint response to these crises is called for to improve public health, create a sustainable economy and protect the environment.

The Countdown report reveals that the past two decades have seen a 54% increase in the number of heat-related deaths in people over the age of 65 (as shown by comparing data from 2000–04 to 2014–18).

The result is a high toll: 296,000 deaths of older people in 2018, largely concentrated in China (62,000 deaths), India (31000), Germany (20,200) and the United States (19,000) and Russia (18,800).

Heat is increasingly affecting our ability to work outdoors in developing regions, which has important economic implications, such as lost productivity and job losses.

India and Indonesia are the most affected countries, as they have suffered losses of potential labour capacity equivalent to 4-6% of their gross domestic product.

Heat and drought also cause drastic increases in exposure to wildfires, resulting in burns and damage to the heart and lungs, due to smoke and displacement of communities.

The population of 114 countries has experienced an increase in the number of days they have been exposed to an extremely high level of risk of forest fires since the early 2000s; the United States saw one of the largest increases.

Between 1981 and 2019, crop yields of maize, winter wheat, soybeans and rice have followed a steady downward trend, resulting in relative reductions of 5.6 per cent for maize, 2.1 per cent for winter wheat, 4.8 per cent for soybeans and 1.8 per cent for rice.

In the case of maize, most countries saw a decrease in the duration of crop growth, so that large areas of South Africa, the US and Europe had reductions in their growing seasons of more than 20 days, with a decrease of more than 14% for the duration in the growth of these crops compared to the period 1981-2010.

Recover goals

Reduce the risk of future pandemics

Despite the stark picture, the 120 world-leading academics and doctors signing the report say that if urgent action is taken to address climate change and agreed plans are implemented to halt global temperatures rising below 2°C, the situation could be countered: reducing these impacts and achieving benefits for the economy and health.

At the same time, these actions could reduce the risk of future pandemics, as drivers of climate change may also carry zoonotic pandemic risks (caused by infectious diseases passing from non-human animals to humans).

The report, drawn up by a collaboration between experts from more than 35 institutions – including the World Health Organization (WHO) and World Bank, and led by University College, London – is published on the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement, when the world pledged to limit global warming to well below 2°C.

Wenjia Cai, director of The Lancet Countdown Regional Centre for Asia, which is based at Tsinghua University in Beijing, commented: “We must face the worst public health outlook ever seen in our generation. Failing to meet our climate commitments could mean that some of the key sustainable development goals are out of reach.”

A decline of 50,000 in three years

Fewer coal deaths

The report highlights that, if temperature increases are limited well below 2°C (and climate mitigation actions converge with pandemic prevention actions) the planet could achieve benefits in the areas of health and the economy in the short and long term.

The great beneficial effect would be a reduction in the 7 million annual deaths currently caused by air pollution (caused largely by the combustion of fossil fuels). Premature deaths attributed to coal use (caused by ultrafine particles, with a maximum diameter of 2.5 microns: PM2.5) are declining rapidly, and have fallen from 440,000 in 2015 to 390,000 in 2018.

In addition, steps have begun in the WHO European region to promote cleaner energy and transport, which has already led to a decrease in the number of deaths from environmental pollution (from ultrafine particles, PM2.5); it has gone from 62 per 100,000 in 2015 to 59 per 100,000 in 2018.

Economic benefits

Improvements in health could, in turn, bring billions in economic benefits.

For example, improvements in air quality in the European Union in the five years leading up to 2019 could be valued at approximately US$8.8 billion each year, if they remain constant.

On the other hand, given that food production causes a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, the report suggests that there is an opportunity to examine some of the 9 million deaths related to a poor diet.

Mortality from red meat ingestion has increased by 72% in 30 years

The food diet and for the planet

Similarly, as livestock is particularly linked to a high level of greenhouse gas emissions, the report explores deaths from excess red meat consumption.

The authors reveal that mortality from this cause reached 990,000 deaths in 2017, representing an increase of 72% since 1990.

In fact, an unhealthy diet is one of the main risk factors for premature death, both globally and in most regions.

Therefore, a lower dependence on this consumption and a greater variety of food systems would result in a human and “planetary” health, it is pointed out.

Half of the countries have a plan

Capacity of health systems

“Climate change opens a cruel gap that increases existing health inequalities between countries. Our report shows that, as in the case of Covid-19, older people are particularly vulnerable, and those with a range of pre-existing conditions, including asthma and diabetes, suffer even greater risks,” said Hugh Montgomery, co-chair of The Lancet Countdown and intensive care physician.

The result is that the capacity of health systems to manage future impacts is still not sufficient, despite improvements. Only half of the countries surveyed have drafted national health and climate plans, and among them only four have sufficient national funding; in addition, less than half of countries have carried out health assessments of vulnerability and adaptation.

Meanwhile, a high percentage of cities surveyed worldwide (two-thirds) predict that climate change will seriously jeopardize public health systems and infrastructures.

“Flames, floods and famine do not respect national borders or bank accounts: a nation’s wealth offers no protection against the impacts that even with an average temperature increase of 1.2 ° C can cause on health,” adds Montgomery.

Converging pandemic and climate crises

Priority to action to address the climate crisis

An editorial in The Lancet states that climate change and the risk of a zoonotic pandemic have the same precursors or drivers, factors that are inseparably intertwined so that they can be managed together. Climate change and its drivers harm the environment through urbanization, intensive agriculture and unsustainable food systems; air transport, tourism, trade and fossil fuel-fuel-driven lifestyles also create conditions that promote zoonoses.

“If we want to reduce the risk of future pandemics, we must prioritize action to address the climate crisis, one of the most powerful forces causing zoonoses today,” says Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of The Lancet. For this specialist, now is the time to take on combating the climate emergency, protecting biodiversity and strengthening natural systems.

There is a real opportunity to align responses to the pandemic and Climate Change

Maria Neira, Director, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH, WHO

Maria Neira, director of the Department of Public Health and Environment of the World Health Organization (WHO), said that “billions are being invested globally in economic aid and stimulus packages.”

Therefore, he believes that “there is a real opportunity to align responses to the pandemic and climate change and declare a triple victory: improving public health, a sustainable economy and protecting the environment.” However, “time is pressing”. If we do not simultaneously confront these converging crises, growth in fossil fuel use will continue, putting the global target of 1.5°C “out of reach” and condemning the planet “to a future full of climate-induced health risks.”

Source: La Vanguardia