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Many of us fear that climate change will disrupt ecosystems and cause natural disasters, but it may be as worrying as the threat to human health.
In an unprecedented study, which examined the research of 24 academic institutions and UN agencies, researchers issued a harsh warning: climate change will have serious consequences for the health of millions of people, rich and poor, in the world. world.
The report, published Wednesday in the Lancet public health journal, questions the lack of initiative to reduce carbon emissions and explains that this will have an unknown impact on human health, which will put a strain on human health. already exhausted resources of public health.
"A rapidly changing climate has disastrous consequences for all aspects of human life, exposing vulnerable populations to extreme weather conditions, changing patterns of infectious diseases and compromising food security, safe drinking water and the quality of the air, "says the report. "These impacts exacerbate cross-national and intergenerational inequities and undermine many of the national and global public health imperatives that physicians, nurses and allied health professionals have dedicated their lives to.
In other words, humanity is venturing into unexplored territory. In particular, the report states that heat stress from rising global temperatures can lead to cardiovascular and kidney disease. Heat waves will also have an impact on the work of farm workers, which could result in tens of billions of hours of lost work each year. The report says that in 2017, 62 billion additional hours of work were lost due to rising temperatures compared to the year 2000.
Extreme rainfall patterns such as heavy rains and droughts present their own challenges.
"Floods and extreme rainfall also have serious health consequences and 15% of natural disaster deaths are due to flooding," says the study. "In addition to immediate injuries and flood deaths, the long-term health effects include the spread of infectious diseases and mental illnesses, both of which are exacerbated by the destruction of infrastructure, housing and livelihoods. subsistence."
The report further explains that if climate change is not mitigated, we expect 1.4 billion additional events due to drought per year and 2 billion flood exposures per year. here the end of the century ".
The most worrying point is perhaps the potential for infectious diseases.
"Changing climatic conditions are a determining factor in the spread and impact of many infectious diseases," says the study. "Understanding how climate change alters the environment's adequacy to disease vectors, pathogen replication, and transmission is critical to understanding the consequences of human exposure."
In the United States, mosquito and tick-borne diseases are already on the rise. While many climate change experts clearly see a link between disease and a rise in global temperature, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have prevented the badociation from putting itself at the forefront of the world. warning and demanded that public resources be reallocated to change climate change.
The report concludes by explaining that a serious public health crisis can eventually be successfully overcome once global efforts have been made to reduce carbon emissions.
"The impact of climate change on health and the ability of communities to adapt to it depend on the success of global mitigation efforts. But mitigation also has more immediate indirect benefits from changes in harmful exposures (for example, reduction of air pollution by particles) and health-related behaviors that mitigation actions imply. "Says the report. "Therefore, the pace of transition to a low-carbon economy determines the degree to which these benefits are realized."
Nicole Karlis
Nicole Karlis is a journalist at the Salon. It covers the areas of health, science, technology and gender. Tweet it @nicolekarlis.
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