The roadmap highlights and advocates for the existing and potential key role of national public health institutes (NPHIs) in climate adaptation
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and mitigation, and how they contribute to climate policies, research and action.
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The new review paper, The Impacts of Climate Change on Health, identifies the extent to which increasing emissions, extreme weather and temperature
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s elevate health risks, from infectious disease to malnutrition, and assesses the associated health burden. It concludes that the health burden will exceed the level of demand that health systems are prepared for.
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Climate risks have significant effects on public health including: injury, death, communicable diseases such as vector-borne and water-borne diseases, and
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non-communicable impacts such as malnutrition, heat stress and health effects of air pollution.
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Climate change also affects human health by increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme heat
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events. Increases in
the overall temperature of the atmosphere and oceans associated with climate change cause changes in wind, moisture, and heat circulation patterns. These changes contribute to shifts in extreme weather events, including extreme heat events.
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The Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health shares a communication guide for health professionals to effectively communicate with public o
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fficials on the need for climate action. In seven steps, the guide provides prompts and examples on how to frame climate issues in a way public officials can be convinced to act. The guide includes a Message Box tool, a framework for adaptable and effective advocacy
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Climate change is the single biggest health threat facing humanity, and health professionals worldwide are already responding to the
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health harms caused by this unfolding crisis.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has concluded that to avert catastrophic health impacts and prevent millions of climate change-related deaths, the world must limit temperature rise to 1.5°C. Past emissions have already made a certain level of global temperature rise and other changes to the climate inevitable. Global heating of even 1.5°C is not considered safe, however; every additional tenth of a degree of warming will take a serious toll on people’s lives and health.
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Beat the heat: child health amid heatwaves in Europe and Central Asia finds that half of these children died from
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heat-related illnesses in their first year of life. Most children died during the summer months.
"Around half of children across Europe and Central Asia – or 92 million children – are already exposed to frequent heatwaves in a region where temperatures are rising at the fastest rate globally. The increasingly high temperatures can have serious health complications for children, especially the youngest children, even in a short space of time. Without care, these complications can be life-threatening,” said Regina De Dominicis UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia.
Heat exposure has acute effects on children, even before they are born, and can result in pre-term births, low birth weight, stillbirth, and congenital anomalies. Heat stress is a direct cause of infant mortality, can affect infant growth and cause a range of paediatric diseases. The report also notes that extreme heat caused the loss of more than 32,000 years of healthy life among children and teenagers in the region.
As the temperatures continue to rise, UNICEF urges governments across Europe and Central Asia to:
- Integrate strategies to reduce the impact of heatwaves including through National Determined Contributions (NDC), National Adaptation Plans (NAP), and disaster risk reduction and disaster management policies with children at the centre of these plans
Invest in heat health action plans and primary health care to more adequately support heat-related illness among children
- Invest in early warning systems, including heat alert systems
- Adapt education facilities to reduce the temperatures in the areas children play in and equip teachers with skills to respond to heat stress
- Adapt urban design and infrastructure including ensuring buildings, particularly those housing the most vulnerable communities are equipped to minimize heat exposure
- Secure the provision of safe water, particularly in countries with deteriorating water quality and availability.
UNICEF works with governments, partners and communities across the region to build resilience against heatwaves. This includes equipping teachers, community health workers and families with the skills and knowledge to respond to heat stress.
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Climate hazards, including extreme heat, are associated with increased risks of developing complications that lead to adverse maternal and perinata
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l outcomes. These may include multiple causes of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality such as gestational diabetes, hyper tensive disorders of pregnancy, preterm birth, low birth weight and stillbirth. In addition to the health risks related to poor nutrition, water, hygiene and sanitation, the effects of exposure to climate hazards and their aftermath during and after pregnancy can affect mental health and contribute to intergenerational trauma. They may increase stress, anxiety and depression – known risk factors for adverse perinatal outcomes.
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Climate change is resulting in poorer health outcomes, increasing mortality and is a driver of health inequities. However,
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health is well placed to be a significant part of the solution; the positive health impacts from stronger climate change action can motivate stronger global ambition; health systems which are resilient to climate change can help protect their populations from the negative impacts (in the short and longer terms); and sustainable low carbon health systems can make a substantial contribution to reducing national and global emissions.
This fact sheet on climate change and health is part of the Climate Fast Facts series of the United Nations Climate Action team.
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Climate change is a verified, global phenomenon, but its consequences will not be evenly distributed. Developing countries and small island nations will be the most affected. Countries will experience more frequent
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extreme weather events and resulting changes in water quality and availability, increased contamination of air, and food security problems. Health impact due to climate change include diarrhoeal diseases, vector-borne diseases, heat stress, malnutrition, deaths and injuries due to extreme weather events and mental stress.
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Billions of people are at risk of preventable death and illness from extreme heat. The Global Heat
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Health Information Network is helping to increase awareness and capacity to better manage and adapt to the health risks of dangerously hot weather in a changing climate.
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The Lancet Volume June 2020, vol.4 : e217-218
The Lancet October 25, 2022DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)01540-9
As climate change’s impacts continue to accrue, countries are persistently making wrong choices that are harming human health.
A desperate global thirst for fossil fuel
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s is worsening climate change, leading to more extreme weather events that have hit every continent, led to thousands of deaths, and caused $250+ billion in damage in 2021.
• People 65+ and children <1 experienced 3.7 billion more heatwave days in 2021 than the annual average from 1986–2005.
• Heat-related deaths shot up 68% from 2000–2004 to 2017–2021.
• Climate change is abetting infectious disease transmission, warming coastal waters and leading to the spread of Vibrio bacteria like the one that causes cholera, and expanding the reach of the malaria parasite.
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Heat-related deaths are preventable. Infographic
Global Knowledge for Climate and Public Health. Informing action to protect populations from the health risks of climate change. It is in response
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to growing calls for actionable information to protect people from the health risks of climate change and other environmental hazards.
Climate and health are inextricably linked. Climate change, extreme weather events and environmental degradation have fundamental impact on human health and well-being. More people than ever before are exposed to increased climate-related health risks, from poor water and air quality to infectious diseases and heat stress.
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2023 is seeing intense heatwaves. According to a July 2023 briefing by the World Meteorological Association temperatures will frequently reach above 35–40°C in many places across the Mediterranean region, with temperatures in the Middle East and
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southeastern Türkiye reaching up to 45°C and, in North Africa, 44–49°C. April–May 2023 also saw temperature records broken across many parts of Asia, including Thailand, Laos and Myanmar.
The IPCC predicts that 420 million people will be exposed to extreme heat and heatwaves in the near future. Hundreds of thousands of people die from preventable heat-related causes each year, while temperature extremes and wildfires cause devastation to lives and livelihoods. According to the WMO, ‘heatwaves are amongst the deadliest natural hazards [and] heat is a rapidly growing health risk’.
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Over long periods of time, individuals and communities can adapt to their local climates. When both warmer and colder temperatures go above or below those norms rapidly, scientific evidence shows th
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at people become vulnerable to associated health effects related to those extremes. Studies suggest that climate change will greatly increase the severity and frequency of extreme temperature conditions, leading to increases in temperature-related illness and death
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