Climate change is already having a perceptible impact on our health, according to results of a study published in the medical journal The Lancet. Heat waves, the proliferation of tiger mosquitoes, pollution and rising sea levels endanger a large population. This report is the culmination of research from 24 academic institutions and intergovernmental agencies that have tracked current progress on the relationship between public health and climate change. 40 indicators were analyzed.
The impact of global warming on the population
The report highlighted the key figures of the impact of climate change on the population.
-125 million medically vulnerable adults were exposed to heat waves worldwide between 2000 and 2016.
-87% of cities in the world are in a state of extreme pollution and beyond the thresholds imposed by the World Health Organization. The study counts 803,000 premature and preventable deaths in 2015 in 21 Asian countries.
-Aedes aegypti mosquitoes have developed and their ability to transmit dengue feverhas increased by 9.4% since 1950. The number of dengue fever cases has doubled every decade.
-More than one billion people worldwide will have to migrate in the next 90 years due to sea level rise caused by melting glaciers.
-Between 2000 and 2016, the number of climatic disasters (hurricanes, floods, droughts, etc.) increased by 46%.
The “symptoms” caused by rising average temperatures and more “extreme weather events” have been “clear for the past few years, and the health impacts are much worse than previously thought,” explain the authors of the study.
Towards a low-carbon society
“This report references 25 years of inaction, but the speed with which so many global institutions have come together over the past two years to identify and produce this indicator report is impressive and very timely. reflect the scale of transformation needed to address these public health issues, considering not only the direct and indirect health impacts of climate change, but also adaptation and mitigation issues, as well as economic issues and financial”, concludes Dr Clare Goodess, principal researcher, and professor of the climatic research unit of the University of East Anglia in the United States.
Read also:
Global warming has an impact on our health
Due to global warming, smallpox could return
Global warming is responsible for the multiplication of certain diseases
