Scientific News..

Scientists tell us that the evidence the Earth is warming is unmistakable. Increases in global average air and sea temperature, ice melting and rising global sea levels all help us understand and prepare for the coming challenges. In addition to these observed changes, climate-sensitive impacts on human health are occurring today.

The core concern is briefly stated: climate change endangers human health. The warming of the planet will be gradual, but the effects of extreme weather events more storms, floods, droughts and heat waves will be sudden and greatly felt. Both trends can affect some of the most fundamental determinants of health: air, water, food, shelter and freedom from disease.

Human beings are already exposed to the effects of climate-sensitive diseases and these diseases today kill millions. They include malnutrition, which causes over 3.5 million deaths per year, diarrheal diseases, which kill over 1.8 million, and malaria, which kills almost 1 million.

Examples already provide us with images of the future:

• European heat wave, 2003: Estimates suggest that approximately 70 000 more people died in that summer than would have been expected.

• Hurricane Katrina, 2005: More than 1 800 people died and thousands more were displaced. Additionally, health facilities throughout the region were destroyed critically affecting health infrastructure.

• Malaria in the East African highlands: In the last 30 years, warmer temperatures have also created more favorable conditions for mosquito populations in the region and therefore for transmission of malaria.

• Epidemics of cholera in Bangladesh: They are closely linked to flooding and unsafe water.

These trends and events cannot be blamed solely to climate change but they are the types of challenges we expect to become more frequent and intense with climate changes. They will further strain health resources that, in many regions, are already under severe stress.