Climate Change and Health

Climate change poses one of the biggest threats to public health in the twenty-first century. Climate-related disasters include extreme temperature events, extreme precipitation, sea-level rise, flooding, and drought. According to estimates by the World Health Organization, climate change may lead to an annual death rate of 250,000 between 2030 and 2050. The direct health impact of climate change includes mortality and morbidity associated with extreme temperature (e.g. heat stroke) and changing patterns of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, as a result of more frequent and severe extreme temperature events. Climate change also has indirect health impacts by facilitating the breeding of mosquitoes to spread vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever, reducing access to clean water and food supplies resulted from drought or flood, and leading to forced migration associated with the loss of economic livelihood of communities. Adaptation and mitigation are the two main approaches adopted to alleviate and manage the health risks of climate change to achieve climate-resilient pathways for sustainable development.