A few days before the opening of COP 29 in Baku, an alarming new report highlights the disastrous consequences of climate change on human health. The scientific journal Lancet published its 2024 report Lancet Countdowna reference on health and climate. This report, published Tuesday October 29, shows that threats to our health and environment are more serious than everwith records reached in ten of the fifteen indicators analyzed.
The works of Lancet Countdown are the result of a collaboration of researchers from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), with more than 120 health professionals from academic institutions and United Nations agencies united from all over the world. They have united to warn, an eighth time, of the consequences of climate change induced by human activity on our health.
— The Lancet (@TheLancet) October 30, 2024
Human health undermined by record heat and extreme conditions
Heat waves are becoming more intense, and affecting the most vulnerable. According to the rapportin 2023, the number of heat-related deaths among older people reached a record high, with an increase of 167% compared to the 1990s, according to the journal report Lancet.
But that’s not all: extreme precipitation, like that affecting Europe these days, is more frequent.threatening food and water security, sanitation, transmission of infectious diseases and increasing the risk of landslides and floods”, according to the website of Countdown. The same goes for droughts, which are also on the rise. According to the Lancet Countdownin 2023, almost half of the world’s land area will have suffered at least one month of drought. These conditions endanger the food safety and cause water shortages, pushing millions of people into hunger and malnutrition.
The return of infectious diseases and risks that are still poorly anticipated
The report emphasizes the increase in infectious diseases. Already at the end of 2023, the Pasteur Institute recalled in a press release on a conference on the climate and health issue that “Rising temperatures expand the habitat and activity period of disease-carrying animals such as mosquitoes and ticks. Thus, regions previously spared become vulnerable to diseases such as the malariathe dengueor even the tick-borne diseases”.
The Institute then spoke of a silent epidemic, directly linked to the catastrophic consequences of climate change. The report of Lancet reports the increase in these diseases, and deplores an insufficient public health response: “Only 68% of countries reported high to very high implementation of legally mandated health emergency management capacities in 2023”, he specifies. THE risks for the mental healththey are even more neglected, with less than 10% of countries having a management system, according to the report.
A dependence on fossil fuels which makes the situation worse, despite efforts
The journal’s researchers Lancet point the finger at public decision-makers, who would continue to massively subsidize fossil fuels (to the tune of 1.4 trillion dollars in 2022according to the Lancet), instead of investing in the transition to clean energy. According to a recent report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), greenhouse gas concentrations reached a new record in 2023. However, scientists remain optimistic: “Encouragingly, deaths from outdoor PM2.5 fine particle pollution from fossil fuels decreased by 6.9% between 2016 and 2021.sending a motivating message to governments to invest in public health through renewable energy.
“There are significant opportunities to build on this progress and secure a healthy future. To do this, it is urgent to redirect funding towards activities that harm human health and towards promoting a healthy, carbon-free transition” calls the researchers of Lancet.
Sources :
- The 2024 Report of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change: Facing record-breaking threats from delayed action – lancetcountdown.org
- Greenhouse gas concentrations take another leap and reach an all-time high in 2023 – WMO – October 28, 2024
- Climate and health: update on a silent epidemic – Institut Pasteur – December 18, 2023
