Heat waves have increased by 157 million vulnerable people since 2000

The world's population vulnerable to diseases and the dead linked to heat waves develops because of the effects of climate change. The main cause is the greater incidence of this phenomenon on the elderly, who live in cities or suffer from noncommunicable diseases. This is stated in the Countdown to Health and Climate Change report published by The lancet.

"Vulnerability to extreme heat has steadily increased worldwide since 1990," says Professor Joacim Rocklöv of the University of Umea (Sweden), one of the authors of the report, to which participated 27 institutions and experts specialties The greatest human vulnerability to extreme heat is the increasing exposure. Global temperatures rose an average of 0.3ºC between 1986 and 2017; but the increase in inhabited areas is more than double (0.8ºC), according to the study.

In 2017, an additional 157 million people were exposed to these episodes, compared to baseline data (which is the average for the period 1986-2005). This figure represents 18 million additional people at risk compared to 2016. On average, each person was exposed to an additional 1.4 day heat wave increase over the period 2000-2017, compared to 1986 to 2005.

Adults over 65, city dwellers or people with cardiovascular disease, diabetes and respiratory diseases are among those at risk of heat stress. These situations increase cardiovascular and renal diseases. Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean are more at risk, with 42% and 43% of people over 65 vulnerable.

The loss of labor in China represents the equivalent of one year of work for 1.4% of its population

The rise in temperatures also poses a risk for occupational health because, under these conditions, prolonged work becomes more difficult, if not impossible.

The 712 episodes of extreme heat resulted in economic losses of 288,000 million euros. In 2017, 153,000 million hours of work were lost due to exposure to extreme heat, which represents an increase of 62,000 million hours compared to 2000. Only the China lost 21,000 million hours; This is the equivalent of one year of work for 1.4% of its labor force. In general, the problem is affecting parts of India, Southeast Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and southern South America. "The changes in heat waves and the productivity of the workforce are an early sign of the considerable impact on public health expected in the future, if temperatures continue to rise." increase, "said Professor Hilary Graham of the University of York. "Trends in the impacts of climate change, exposures and vulnerabilities point to an unacceptable risk to health today and in the future," said Professor Hillary Graham. The lack of progress in policies to mitigate global warming or to take adaptation measures "threatens lives and health systems".

The authors point out that slight changes in temperature and precipitation can cause large changes in the transmission of some infectious diseases transmitted by water and mosquitoes. In 2016, the transmission capacity of the dengue virus increased by 9.1% compared to that recorded in the 1950s for the mosquito Aedes aegypti while cholera bacteria increased by 24% in the Baltic region between 1980 and 2010, among many other examples cited

The report notes that the speed of climate change exceeds response capacity because health systems are not always trained. However, it detects promising trends in areas that affect health, such as the phasing out of coal, the deployment of cleaner and healthier modes of transportation, and the adaptation of health systems.

Faced with "the current epidemic of diseases related to our way of life", delaying the beneficial action that climate change policies imply is "short-sighted and detrimental to human health and the budget family, "recalled Rocklöv. The increase in the number of people vulnerable to heat waves is based on an average study for the period 1986-2005. However, its authors did not provide the basic absolute figures, arguing that they would be misleading because each year is volatile.

Scientific study of reference:

Report of Lancet Countdown to health and climate change, 2018: shaping the health of nations for centuries to come