Is Climate Change affecting your Health?

Image from Milken Institute School of Public Health

Alarms have been raised by leading scientists in a report concerning global health: climate change has already established itself as a health emergency.

With 2030 the deadline to make drastic changes in order to avoid catastrophic climate change, this news of a growing crisis in human health is likely to bring surprise to the general public.

So how does this work?

Rising global temperatures have led to dramatic increases in extreme weather events, along with negative changes in vegetation and water systems. As a consequence, human health is at risk as these factors have a strong hold on our lifestyles.

Our health can be affected through a variety of different sources: heatwaves, parasites, infectious diseases, food and even mental health are all susceptible to this. This raises concerns for vulnerable groups such as young children and the elderly.

With the IPCC having already made a report on the various ways climate change can affect human health, here's a quick summary of some of the risks and how these can affect human wellbeing.

Heatwaves

Image from Sky News

The heatwave that hit the UK this summer was welcomed by many as a change from the typical British weather. However, it signifies a set of serious implications. It was the hottest on record and over 650 people died this summer, with a large portion being elderly people. Conditions such as heat stroke, heat exhaustion and severe dehydration were seen over the course of the extended heatwave; these are serious side effects of prolonged exposure to high temperatures. Global greenhouse gas emissions are set to rise even more in the coming years, ultimately making heatwaves set to become more common in the future.

Infectious Diseases

Image from BBC

With the continuous warming of the planet, we are seeing the emergence and reemergence of various diseases. Many of these have appeared in parts of the world where they were previously absent. This is in part due to the spreading of vectors such as flies and mosquitoes, which thrive in humid conditions. Commonly seen in tropical climates, they have become more commonplace in otherwise temperate parts of the world; warmer future temperatures will improve living conditions for these species, which will increase the likelihood of disease spread.

Europe has recently experienced numbers of vector-borne diseases such as the West Nile Virus, typically seen in Africa. The threat of emerging diseases is not exclusive to Europe;

the Zika virus heavily affected South America and parts of Asia, and Ebola caused devastation in West Africa.

Air Pollution

Image from National Geographic

What air pollution and climate change have in common is that they are both worsened by the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere. Studies have shown that long-term exposure to air pollution can lead to cognitive, developmental, cardiovascular and cellular issues; in many cases this has also lead to cancer.

In order to minimise these future health issues, the world's leaders will have to act now by enforcing legislation targeted towards reducing the negative effects heralded by anthropogenic climate change. But with recent failures to reach targets in various countries and cities, more effort is needed.