Climate Change the Greatest Risk to Human Health

Climate change represents the greatest risk to human health, a prominent medical publication, the Lancet, has said, referring to it as “the biggest global health threat of the 21st Century”.

The statement formed part of a new report produced by the Lancet, along with researchers based at London University College.  The report emphasised the need for health organisations like the NHS (National Health Service) to change the way they operate, in order to take on the dangers associated with global warming.

The widely-predicted effects of climate change on the planet include extreme heatwaves, droughts and shortages of food and these, said the report, all carried deep financial ramifications for the health sector.

In August 2003, Europe experienced way-above-average temperatures – a phenomenon that killed approximately 70,000 EU residents.  Events of this kind, according to the report, are set to become more frequent.  The UK, it added, would witness more cases of cataracts and skin cancer.  In tropical regions, meanwhile, cases of malaria would similarly multiply.

Health Effects of Climate Change

The Lancet’s editor, Dr Richard Horton, accused medical professionals of failing to realise the full scope of the health effects of climate change.

“What I hope it [the report] does is to make them realise that climate change is an urgent and dangerous issue that affects the patients they see on a daily basis”, he said.

“Their patients might not die tomorrow because of climate change but for them, their children and their grandchildren, climate change is going to be a danger to all of us.”

The report highlighted scientific data showing how only one of the past 13 years had not been a record-breaking year for heat around the world.  The general scientific consensus, it added, was that achieving a two degrees average temperature rise by 2099 – an increase considered comparatively safe – was now improbable.  What’s more, food and water were already becoming scarce in undeveloped nations, and this would put yet more pressure on an already pressurised health sector.

Impact of Global Warming on Health

On the flipside, however, the report also advocated taking steps to lower emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases as a way to at least minimise the impact of global warming on health.

"If we redesign our cities so people walk more, cycle more, use public transport, suddenly we drop the incidence of obesity, heart disease, strokes and stress-related illness”, University College London’s Professor Mark Maslin said, in comments made to Sky News.

The report urged the (UK) Department of Health to cross-collaborate with other divisions of the government as a means of achieving rapid action.

"We welcome any initiatives that highlight the health impacts of climate change, and encourage the health sector's role in reducing emissions”, a spokesperson for the Department of Health stated.