The climate crisis is slowing down the improvement in human health and well-being conditions that have been achieved in recent decades in many parts of the planet and threatens to reverse this progress, especially in areas and population groups with fewer economic resources. The deterioration of health derived from the lack of adaptation to climate change will have tragic consequences in sensitive areas (coastlines, islands, developing countries or countries with scarcity of water and resources) and disadvantaged groups.
"To address the new climate reality, the health sector needs adapted climate information and services to control climate-related health risks," as highlighted in the Report on the State of Climate Services in 2023 ( 2023 State of Climate Services) of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), presented this Thursday, October 2.
The 2023 edition of this annual report focuses precisely on the relationship between climate services and human health, and makes it clear that the current climate crisis is not receiving a sufficient political and financial response to address serious repercussions such as health and well-being of people.
The new WMO report on the state of climate services highlights that, although the necessary scientific knowledge and resources currently exist to address the situation, they are still not sufficiently accessible or used in the health sector, which has a particular impact on the most vulnerable communities on the planet. In fact, less than a quarter of Health Ministries around the world have a health surveillance system that uses climate information, as indicated in the WMO report presented this Thursday by Petteri Taalas, Secretary General of this organization. dependent on the UN.
The WMO report recalls the main health threats derived from the effects of climate change, such as heat waves, hurricanes, droughts, floods and fires. Among all of them, the phenomenon with the highest mortality rate is extreme heat, which in Europe alone caused more than 60,000 fatalities in 35 different countries during the summer of 2022, according to data from The Lancet Countdown.
"Virtually the entire planet has experienced heat waves this year. The emergence of El Niño in 2023 will greatly increase the likelihood of further temperature record breaking, triggering more extreme heat in many parts of the world and in the ocean, and causing the challenge is even greater," indicated the Secretary General of the WMO, who presented the report from the organization's headquarters in Geneva.
Various scientific studies have pointed out that this trend will increase, at least, until the end of this century in areas such as southern Europe, Central and South America, Southeast Asia and especially in Africa.
More than half of the expected increase in mortality due to climate change by 2050 could be concentrated in these areas, according to the International Panel of Experts on Climate Change (IPCC); and an important part of these impacts on human lives are related to the poor development of climate services and early warning systems.
Heat waves also aggravate air pollution, which is already responsible for some 7 million premature deaths a year, in the same way that they worsen the effects of droughts, putting food security at risk in much of the world's land surface.
Changing climatic conditions are also enhancing the transmission of climate-sensitive infectious diseases transmitted by both vectors and food and water. For example, dengue is the most rapidly spreading vector-borne disease in the world, while the length of the malaria transmission season has increased in various areas of the planet.
"The climate crisis is a health crisis that is causing increasingly severe and unpredictable weather events, fueling disease outbreaks and contributing to rising rates of non-communicable diseases," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. director general of the WHO,
The WMO annual report also leaves room for hope by listing various success stories across continents of developing climate services that have proven effective. Among the case studies presented, early warning systems for extreme heat and drought, pollen control methods to help allergy sufferers, and satellite surveillance of climate-sensitive diseases have been presented that have served to resolve health crises related to change. climate.
"By working together to make high-quality climate services more accessible to the health sector, we can help protect the health and well-being of people facing the dangers of climate change," stressed the director general of the WHO.
