A few years ago, while doing research in the
highlands of Ethiopia, a medical professional explained how cases of malaria
were spreading each year up the mountains. Rising temperatures were allowing
the parasite-carrying mosquitoes to survive at higher altitudes, and infect new
communities. It is a story repeated across the world as we witness the impact
of the climate emergency on global health ever more directly.
اضافة اعلان
At COP28, the annual United Nations conference
on climate change, which is underway in Dubai this week, a full day has been
allocated to a discussion on the global health challenges of the climate
emergency.
Whilst it might be the first time health has
received such attention at a COP meeting, evidence for the impact of the
climate emergency on health is clear and growing. The World Health Organization
estimates that an annual
250,000 additional deaths will occur as a
result of climate change-induced undernutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat
alone.
Climate change impacts on health in two main
ways. Firstly, the direct impact of heatwaves, storms, floods, and other
extreme weather events. For example, the US city of
Phoenix saw a 50 percent increase in
heat-related deaths as a result of the summer heatwave that scorched large
parts of America. As storms rage more intensely and frequently, as wildfires
burn more often and across wider areas, and as floods appear more suddenly,
more people will be injured or killed as a result.
Secondly, climate change can exacerbate and
spread existing diseases. Dengue fever, for example, was found in only nine
countries in 1970. Now it is
present in more than 100. Rising temperatures on land and sea can facilitate
the spread of cholera and other diseases. Air pollution, which not only
contributes to rising temperatures but is made worse by that increase, causes
around
6.7 million deaths every year. Where food
production is undermined by increased salinity in the soil as a result of
rising sea levels, or too much heat or rain, it can lead to undernutrition and
hunger.
Climate change impacts on health in two main ways. Firstly, the direct impact of heatwaves, storms, floods, and other extreme weather events. For example, the US city of Phoenix saw a 50 percent increase in heat-related deaths as a result of the summer heatwave that scorched large parts of America. As storms rage more intensely and frequently, as wildfires burn more often and across wider areas, and as floods appear more suddenly, more people will be injured or killed as a result.
Attention has only recently turned to the
impact of climate change on mental health, but it now appears that the scale of
the problem is significant. The stress of living through climate
emergency-linked disasters is a major cause of depression, post-traumatic
stress disorder, and anxiety. A new term, “
solastalgia”
has been coined to describe the distress caused by witnessing and living
through profound changes to the environments in which we live.
As climate change threatens health, the
capacity of health systems to respond is also challenged by the worsening
climate. Hit by two hurricanes in quick succession in 2017, one-fifth of
Puerto Rico’s health facilities in the most affected
areas were severely damaged. Less than half of health facilities in neighboring
Dominica were operational.
In the Philippines,
Super Typhoon Rai in 2021 damaged more than
220 health facilities in the space of a few hours. There is an urgent need to
build greater resilience for health systems.
The terrible toll of the climate emergency on
global health is clear and already occurring. But it is an unbalanced one, with
poorer countries suffering the most despite contributing the least amount of
harmful gases into the atmosphere. Those who are most vulnerable to the
physical and mental health impacts are those contributing least to the
processes that cause climate change. And as the temperatures rise, that toll
increases inexorably.
Giving greater prominence to the health
impacts of the climate emergency at COP28 is, then, long-overdue. The talks
will be focusing on three important areas: how health systems can be made more
resilient; increasing the proportion of climate financing targeted specifically
at public health; and on mainstreaming health into climate policies.
But while these are all worthy goals, there
are also some concerning gaps. The scale of financial resources needed to
address the growing impact of climate change on health and health systems is
immense. With the richer countries already reneging on previous promises of
climate finance, few hold out hope of sufficient resources being made available
in this round of talks.
The absence of a planned discussion during
COP28’s health day on reducing fossil fuel use also feels like a missed
opportunity.
This matters because the same emissions that
create climate change also have direct health impacts in their own right. Any
delay to reducing reliance on fossil fuels and shifting to renewable energy
will mean continued preventable deaths from those pollutants. Diarmid
Campbell-Lendrum, head of the WHO Climate and Health team, has argued any delay will put such deaths in
the millions.
Giving greater prominence to the health impacts of the climate emergency at COP28 is, then, long-overdue. The talks will be focusing on three important areas: how health systems can be made more resilient; increasing the proportion of climate financing targeted specifically at public health; and on mainstreaming health into climate policies.
While important, as critics rightly note, the
focus on adaptation (how health systems can cope with climate change), should
not come at the expense of an equally important and urgent debate on mitigation
(how climate change can be slowed and reduced).
COP28 could be an important moment for
integrating global public health into discussions, policy, and finance for
climate change. And whatever the limitations of the discussion to be held on
Sunday, it will hopefully lead to momentum in better integrating health into
global and local responses to the climate emergency.
In the end it will be the phasing out of
fossil fuels that will improve the health of us all, but especially the poor
and most vulnerable who have done so little but are enduring so much of the
climate emergency’s worst impacts.
Michael
Jennings is a professor in global development at SOAS University of London,
where he works on issues related to global health and the politics and history
of global development. Twitter: @mikejennings101
Disclaimer:
Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Jordan News' point of view.
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