Guest Post: Health and Climate Change

I have had the good fortune of meeting Sudhvir Singh, a medical student from Auckland, New Zealand who is here at the negotiations with the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations. Below is a guest post he has asked me to share that summarizes recent research on the connections between health and climate change.

" When most people think of climate change, they probably think of rising sea levels, dying polar bears and controversial, boring discussions about carbon emissions that never seem to progress. This reflects a lack of understanding of the profound impacts of climate change on human health. Indeed, the well-respected medical journal The Lancet describes climate change as the biggest threat to global health in the 21st century. Appreciating the relationship between climate change and health adds to the argument for urgent mitigation by underlining the benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to both health and the economy.

In most simple terms, global climate change will affect health directly by increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather events – including some of the natural disasters that we commonly see and hear on the daily news such as floods, storms and heat waves. The devastating floods in Pakistan this year and the deadly European heat wave of 2003 (which claimed more than 40,000 lives) are the type of events that are likely to become more common in the future. This, along with rising sea levels and the increasing demand for scarce resources, will result in forced migration and potential conflict. As many crops will have poorer yields, food security and human nutrition is likely to be threatened. Environmental change will also alter the conditions under which vector-borne infectious diseases spread. For example, mosquitoes will be able to inhabit new geographic areas and therefore expose more people to diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. These adverse health impacts will impact poorer countries to a much greater extent than developed countries, an injustice that cannot be ignored.

Simple actions taken to live more sustainably have profound benefits to health and save money by reducing health care expenses. For example, consuming less meat and more fresh produce and choosing to cycle, walk or use public transport instead of driving are healthy lifestyle choices that reduce the risk of developing cancer, heart disease and diabetes and also reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing the number of coal-fired power plants in favour of renewable energy sources would simultaneously reduce the occurrence of respiratory illnesses such as obstructive lung disease and lung cancer. The Health and Environment Alliance has estimated that if the EU reduced carbon emissions by 30% by 2020, there will be an associated reduction in healthcare costs of up to €30.5 billion per year, which represents 2/3 of the costs of implementing a 30% reduction compared to a 20% reduction. Action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will therefore result in substantial benefits to health and to the economy.

Appreciating the human impacts of climate change is an important addition to the argument for urgent mitigation. To find out more please visit the World Health Organization climate change and health webpage (http://www.who.int/topics/climate/en/) or Physicians for Social Responsibility (http://www.psr.org/environment-and-health/global-warming/). Please also visit our blog for information about how you can help join the health movement and our network 'Young Friends of Public Health'
(www.ifmsa.wordpress.com)."

-Sudhvir Singh, International Federation of Medical Students' Associations