The Negative Impact Of Climate Change On Human Health

According to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), climate change is likely to have a greater impact on India compared to other countries similarly positioned, on account of the unique combination of its geography, diverse population characteristics and extremely high carbon-related energy dependence.

The question is, how will the changing climate affect our health? Climate change can have both direct and indirect human health impacts. Indirect impacts arise from changes in temperature patterns, which may disturb natural ecosystems, change the ecology of infectious diseases, harm agriculture and fresh water supplies, exacerbate air pollution levels, and cause large-scale reorganization of plant and animal communities.

This strategy is urgently needed, both because the health community has a duty to counter emerging threats, and because increased attention to climate change offers opportunities to focus on the most disadvantaged populations’ current needs. For example, the international community has agreed on the principle of a global climate change adaptation fund, funded by a 2% levy on a multibillion-dollar Clean Development Mechanism.6 However, this opportunity to strengthen public health can be seized only if the health sector knows what it should do differently because of climate change. The development of a comprehensive strategy will take time, but some essential principles are already clear. A global problem requires a strategy of international dimensions that can translate into regional and local actions. Just as climate change’s underlying causes are global, its health implications do not respect national boundaries. Impacts in one location, such as infectious disease epidemics or population displacements caused by droughts or rising sea levels, quickly spread across national borders. Coordinated investments in preventive measures therefore contribute to the

Climate change has adverse consequences for health: as carbon goes up health goes down

2. Estimates around 150,000 deaths now occur in low-income countries each year due to climate change from four climate-sensitive health outcomes – crop failure and malnutrition, malaria and flooding.

3. Many of the major killers such as diarrheal diseases, malnutrition, malaria and dengue are highly climate-sensitive and are expected to worsen as the climate changes.

4. Areas with weak health infrastructure – mostly in developing countries – will be the least able to cope without assistance to prepare and respond.

5. Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases through better transport, food and energy-use choices can result in improved health.

6. The overall health effects of a changing climate are likely to be overwhelmingly negative. Climate change affects the fundamental requirements for health – clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food and secure shelter.

7. High temperatures also raise the levels of ozone and other pollutants in the air that exacerbate cardiovascular and respiratory disease. Urban air pollution causes about 1.2 million deaths every