By 2030 around 2.5 lakh additional deaths and over 90 lakh deaths each year by the end of the century due to climate change said the latest World Health Statistics 2023 report by the World Health Organization. This conservative estimate included only climate-attributable deaths from malaria, heat exposure in older persons, undernutrition and diarrhoeal disease in children, and coastal flood mortality.
Climate change is one of the greatest health challenges of the 21st century. As climatic conditions change, we are witnessing more frequent and intensifying weather and climate events, such as storms, extreme heat, floods, droughts, and wildfires. These weather and climate hazards affect health both directly and indirectly, increasing the risk of deaths, and the spread of infectious diseases.
This is the first time the World Health Statistics has included a chapter on climate change and its health impact. The World health statistics report is the annual compilation of health and health-related indicators published by WHO since 2005.
The Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that up to 3.6 billion people around the globe live in contexts that are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Low-income and lower-middle-income countries and small island developing states face the greatest health consequences of climate change. over the past decade, floods, droughts, and storms were 15 times more lethal in highly vulnerable regions than in regions with low vulnerability.
Health risks of climate change
Extreme weather events and climate-related environmental stressors degrade water and soil safety, increasing the risks of waterborne and foodborne illnesses. There are some 600 million cases of foodborne illness globally. Children under 5 years of age carry 40% of the burden of foodborne diseases, resulting in 125 000 child deaths every year. in 2020, between 720 and 811 million people faced hunger, primarily in Africa and Asia (21). Higher temperatures, rising sea levels, and flooding affect all aspects of food and nutrition security.
Changing temperature and precipitation patterns are also increasing the suitability of conditions for the transmission of mosquito-borne, tick-borne, and rodent-borne diseases in many regions. If prevention methods are not strengthened, this could lead to an increase in the over 700 000 deaths from vector-borne diseases each year. Estimating the full health burden of climate change is challenging.
Under a medium-high emissions scenario, by 2030 climate change would cause around 250 000 additional deaths per year. In 2019, air pollution caused
approximately 6.7 million deaths globally due to cardiovascular disease, respiratory illnesses, and cancer.
