Known avoidable environmental risks to health cause at least 12.6 million deaths every year, and account for about one quarter of the global burden of disease (2016 data) (1). Air pollution alone causes about 7 million
deaths a year, placing it among the top global risks to health (2). Global envir
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onmental challenges are on the rise, including climate change, rapid urbanization and increased resistance to drugs.
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Today, WFP has the capabilities and know-how to tap into mobile technology and artificial intelligence to monitor food security; use satellite technology to locate and track communities in need; and offer digital finance via blockchain technology to put consumer choices in the hands of our beneficia
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ries.
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Research Programme on Religious Communities and Sustainable Development Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Discussions about climate change often focus on the future, but millions of children are experiencing its devastating impacts now. The scale of the crisis is huge, and growing fast. It is children that will bear the brunt of climate change, yet its impact on them is understudied, their voices are no
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t being heard, and current solutions are woefully inadequate. It is a perfect storm that we must stop in its path – before it is too late.
Available in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic
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Lancet Planet Health 2020; 4: e271–79
Children without access to safe water are more likely to die in infancy -- and throughout childhood -- from diseases caused by
water-borne bacteria, to which their small bodies are more vulnerable.
BackgroundClimate change is one of the great challenges of our time. The consequences of climate change on exposed biological subjects, as well as on vulnerable societies, are a concern for the entire scientific community. Rising temperatures, heat waves, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, droughts, fir
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es, loss of forest, and glaciers, along with disappearance of rivers and desertification, can directly and indirectly cause human pathologies that are physical and mental.
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PlosOne May 7, 2012 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0036735 ; Safe drinking water is critical for health. Household water treatment (HWT) has been recommended for improving access to potable water where existing sources are unsafe. Reports of low adherence to HWT may limit the usefulness of thi
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s approach, however.
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Environment International Volume 86, January 2016, Pages 14-23
Climate change refers to long-term shifts in weather conditions and patterns of extreme weather events. It may lead to changes in health threat to human beings, multiplying existing health problems. This review examines the scientific e
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vidences on the impact of climate change on human infectious diseases. It identifies research progress and gaps on how human society may respond to, adapt to, and prepare for the related changes. Based on a survey of related publications between 1990 and 2015, the terms used for literature selection reflect three aspects — the components of infectious diseases, climate variables, and selected infectious diseases. Humans' vulnerability to the potential health impacts by climate change is evident in literature. As an active agent, human beings may control the related health effects that may be effectively controlled through adopting proactive measures, including better understanding of the climate change patterns and of the compound disease-specific health effects, and effective allocation of technologies and resources to promote healthy lifestyles and public awareness. The following adaptation measures are recommended: 1) to go beyond empirical observations of the association between climate change and infectious diseases and develop more scientific explanations, 2) to improve the prediction of spatial–temporal process of climate change and the associated shifts in infectious diseases at various spatial and temporal scales, and 3) to establish locally effective early warning systems for the health effects of predicated climate change.
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In 2013 the World Health Organization (WHO) published the report Protecting health from climate change:vulnerability and adaptation assessment. The aim was to provide basic and flexible guidance on conducting national or subnational assessments of current and future vulnerability (the susceptibilit
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y of a population or region to harm) to the health risks of climate change, and of policies and programmes that could increase resilience, taking into account the multiple determinants of climate-sensitive health outcomes.
That guidance has been a very useful tool, applied to more than 50 countries and settings, and has helped countries to prepare their health contributions to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change national adaptation plans.
Since the launch of the guidance, WHO, technical partners such as Health Canada, and countries have learned much in terms of its applicability in different countries, at national and local levels.
At the same time, knowledge on climate change and health has increased.
WHO, the Pan American Health Organization and Health Canada have produced this updated version, which aims to better support countries in their assessments by proposing a simpler tool that incorporates
all lessons learned.
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Best Practices Report.PART 1 Primary Protection: Enhancing Health Care Resilience for a Changing Climatei Primary Protection: EnhancingU.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Constraints, Technologies, Policies and Processes
We need to be concerned about mental health in the context of climate change
This Summary for Policymakers (SPM) presents key findings of the Working Group I (WGI) contribution to the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) on the physical science basis of climate change. The report builds upon the 2013 Working Group I contribution to the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report (AR5
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) and the 2018–2019 IPCC Special Reports of the AR6 cycle and
incorporates subsequent new evidence from climate science
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Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(24), 13339; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182413339
The climate crisis threatens to exacerbate numerous climate-sensitive health risks, including heatwave mortality, malnutrition from reduced crop yields, water- and vector-borne infectious diseases, and
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respiratory illness from smog, ozone, allergenic pollen, and wildfires. Recent reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stress the urgent need for action to mitigate climate change, underscoring the need for more scientific assessment of the benefits of climate action for health and wellbeing.
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The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Georgetown University, and the United Nations University have today launched new guidelines to provide the first-ever global policy framework that will help protect, include, and empower children on the
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move in the context of climate change.
The Guiding Principles for Children on the Move in the Context of Climate Change provides a set of 9 principles that address the unique and layered vulnerabilities of children on the move both internally and across borders as a result of the adverse impacts of climate change. Currently, most child-related migration policies do not consider climate and environmental factors, while most climate change policies overlook the unique needs of children.
The guidelines note that climate change is intersecting with existing environmental, social, political, economic, and demographic conditions contributing to people’s decisions to move. In 2020 alone, nearly 10 million children were displaced in the aftermath of weather-related shocks. With around one billion children – nearly half of the world’s 2.2 billion children – living in 33 countries at high risk of the impacts of climate change, millions more children could be on the move in the coming years.
Developed in collaboration with young climate and migration activists, academics, experts, policymakers, practitioners, and UN agencies, the guiding principles are based on the globally ratified Convention on the Rights of the Child and are further informed by existing operational guidelines and frameworks.
Recommendations for safeguarding the rights and well-being of children regardless of their location or migration status.
The guiding principles provide national and local governments, international organizations and civil society groups with a foundation to build policies that protect children’s rights. The organizations and institutions are calling on governments, local and regional actors, international organizations, and civil society groups to embrace the guiding principles to help protect, include, and empower children on the move in the context of climate change.
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