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Climate change poses a diverse and growing threat to human health, so COP28, which begins on Thursday, will dedicate a day to the issue for the first time.
“To avoid catastrophic health impacts and prevent millions of deaths,” it is necessary to limit the Earth’s average temperature rise to 1.5°C, the most ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement, the World Health Organization contends, in line with others Health issues experts and environmental organizations.
Instead, according to the UN, the planet is on track to warm by 2.5 to 2.9 °C by 2100.
According to experts, it is the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, such as children, women, the elderly, migrants or residents of less developed countries, who are at the most drastic and dangerous risk.
heat waves
The year 2023 is shaping up to be the warmest year on record.
More frequent and intense heat waves promise increasing strain on the human body.
In 2022, Earth’s inhabitants were exposed to life-threatening temperatures for an average of 86 days.
The weakest pay the highest taxes. For example, the number of people over 65 dying from heat increased by 85% between 1991 and 2000 and between 2013 and 2022, according to a groundbreaking report published this week by the medical journal The Lancet.
Heat caused more than 70,000 deaths in Europe alone last summer, according to researchers who revised up the previous estimate of 62,000 victims this week.
According to The Lancet’s Countdown, nearly five times as many people worldwide could die from extreme heat by 2050.
More frequent droughts are also putting millions of people at risk of starvation. With warming of 2°C by 2100, around 520 million additional people would be moderately or severely affected by food insecurity by the middle of the century.
And other extreme weather events such as storms, floods or fires result in death or illness.
Air pollution
Almost 99% of the world’s population breathes air with pollution levels that exceed limits set by the World Health Organization.
Exacerbated by climate change, air pollution increases the risk of respiratory diseases, cardiovascular accidents, diabetes or cancer and, according to some experts, has comparable or even greater effects than tobacco or alcohol.
The presence of gases, heavy metals, particles and dust in the air, mainly derived from fossil fuels, can cross the lung barrier and enter the blood.
The most adverse health effects are associated with long-term exposure, particularly during peak periods of air pollution when respiratory infections and allergies increase.
According to the WHO, more than four million premature deaths occur every year due to environmental pollution.
However, according to The Lancet, these premature deaths have fallen by almost 16% since 2005, largely due to reduced coal consumption.
Infectious diseases
By changing temperature and precipitation, climate change also worsens infectious and parasitic diseases.
This is particularly due to new areas of distribution of mosquitoes, birds or mammals involved in epidemics caused by viruses (dengue, chikungunya, Zika, West Nile virus…), bacteria (plague, Lyme disease …), animals or parasites (malaria). …).
According to The Lancet report, if global warming reaches 2°C, dengue transmission could increase by 36% by 2100. And as the oceans warm, more and more coastal areas are conducive to the transmission of the Vibrio bacteria responsible for cholera.
Storms or floods can also leave standing water, which encourages mosquito breeding, while heat waves increase waterborne infections.
Mental health
Anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress: According to experts, climate change also poses a risk to mental health, especially for people with mental disorders.
In addition to the direct effects of natural disasters or heat waves, there are indirect effects, such as environmental anxiety, especially among young adults.
(Taken from AFP)