CLIMATE CHANGE EFFECTS

• A recent report by Lancet, traced in detail the intimate link between changing weather events & their impact on the health of people.
• Health at the Mercy of Fossil Fuels points out that the world's reliance on fossil fuels increases the risk of disease, food insecurity & other illnesses related to heat.

• The 2022 Lancet Countdown report comes at a time when the world is face-to-face with the threat of climate change.
• According to the WHO, climate change affects the social & environmental determinants of health-clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food & secure shelter.
• Rapidly increasing temperatures exposed people, especially vulnerable populations (age group of <1 ->65 years) to 3.7 billion more heatwave days in 2021 than annually in 1986-2005.

• The changing climate is affecting the spread of infectious diseases, raising the risk of emerging diseases & co-epidemics.
• Coastal waters are becoming more suited for the transmission of Vibrio pathogens.
• The number of months suitable for malaria transmission has increased in the highland areas of America & Africa.
• WHO has predicted that between 2030-2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 2,50,000 additional deaths per year, because of malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea, and heat stress.

• Every dimension of food security is being affected by climate change.
• Higher temperatures threaten crop yields directly, with the growing season shortening for many cereal crops.
• Extreme weather events disrupt supply chains, undermining food availability, access, stability & utilisation.
• The prevalence of undernourishment increased during the COVID-19 pandemic & nearly 161 million more people faced hunger in 2020 than in 2019.
• This situation is now worsened by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

• The war has led many countries to search for alternative fuels to Russian oil & gas, and some of them are still turning back to traditional thermal energy.
• Even if implemented as a temporary transition, the renewed clamour for coal could reverse the gains that were made in air quality improvement & push the world towards a future of accelerated climate change that may threaten human survival.
• Instead, a transition to clean energy forms would undeniably be the sustainable way ahead.

• A health-centred response to the coexisting climate, energy & cost-of-living crises provides an opportunity to deliver a healthy, low-carbon future.
• This is the way a health-centred response would work, it would reduce the likelihood of the most catastrophic climate change impacts while improving energy security & creating an opportunity for economic recovery.
• Improvements in air quality will help prevent deaths resulting from exposure to fossil fuel-derived ambient PM2.5.
• The stress on low-carbon travel & increase in urban spaces would result in promoting physical activity which would have an impact on physical & mental health.
• Transition to balanced & more plant-based diets, is encouraged to reduce emissions from red meat & milk production, and prevent diet-related deaths, besides substantially reducing the risk of zoonotic diseases.
• This kind of health-focused shift would reduce the burden of communicable & non-communicable diseases, reducing the strain on healthcare providers & leading to more robust health systems.
• , indeed, the pace & scale of climate change adaptation, planning & resilience is insufficient.
• The report calls for global coordination, funding, transparency & cooperation between governments, communities, civil society, businesses & public health leaders to reduce or prevent the vulnerabilities that the world otherwise exposed.