Global Health: Global Health and Climate
Created by Health Science Librarians
"The Biggest Health Threat Facing Humanity"
Climate change can no longer just be viewed as just an ecological or environmental threat - the World Health Organization has declared that climate change is the "the single biggest health threat facing humanity." As the climate continues to warm unabated, the evidence points overwhelmingly to the fact that this changing climate will devestate the health of people living on this planet.
The highly anticipated 2022 Countdown Report from the Lancet was released on October 26, 2022. The phrase 'health at the mercy of fossil fuels' is found in the title, strongly emphasizing that our dependence on fossil fuels will be our downfall.
"With countries facing multiple crises simultaneously, their policies on COVID-19 recovery and energy sovereignty will have profound, and potentially irreversible consequences for health and climate change. However, accelerated climate action would deliver cascading benefits, with more resilient health, food, and energy systems, and improved security and diplomatic autonomy, minimising the health impact of health shocks. With the world in turmoil, putting human health at the centre of an aligned response to these concurrent crises could represent the last hope of securing a healthier, safer future for all."
The rest of this page will go into more detail about the specific ways that climate change can impact human health around the globe.
Health Effects of Climate Change
The above graphic is from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and provides a simple visualization for the myriad of ways that a changing climate will impact human health.
The above figure is from the World Health Organization and gives an overview of climate-sensitive health risks, their exposure pathways and vulnerability factors. Climate change impacts health both directly and indirectly, and is strongly mediated by environmental, social and public health determinants.
Below are links to either articles or reputable web pages going more in-depth on the topics listed.
- Severe weather
- Air pollution
- Extreme heat
- Changes in vector ecology
- Increasing allergens
- Environmental degradation
- Water-quality impacts and water-borne disease
- Malnutrition and food supply impacts
- Mental and psychosocial health
Further Learning and Resources
- Climate Change for Health Professionals: A Pocket Book (PAHO)Climate change for health professionals is a pocket book based on empirical data that offers essential information for medical personnel and other health professionals to realize the impacts of climate change on their daily practice.
- EPA Climate IndicatorsEPA’s indicators provide evidence of observed climate changes and their impacts on people and the environment. EPA partners with dozens of data contributors to compile and keep these indicators up to date.
- The Impact of Climate Change on Health: Reducing Risks and Increasing Resilience in the Era of COVID-19Over the past two decades multiple large-scale reviews on climate change and health have made clear the need for a multi-sectoral approach to target the drivers and impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss, and ecosystem degradation. Despite this abundance of scientific evidence underscoring urgency of action, policy implementation responses lag behind. Even at COP26, itself delayed due to an ongoing pandemic, health continues to be considered by many countries a problem independent from climate and environment.
- The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific AssessmentThis assessment strengthens and expands our understanding of climate-related health impacts by providing a more definitive description of climate-related health burdens in the United States. It builds on the 2014 National Climate Assessment and reviews and synthesizes key contributions to the published literature.
- IPCC LibraryA repository of IPCC Assessment Reports, Special Reports, Methodology Reports, Technical Papers and reports from IPCC Expert meetings and Co-sponsored Workshops also known us Supporting Material.
- NOAA Climate Education ResourcesNOAA Education keeps people informed and engaged in our planet’s dynamic environment, from space weather to fish migration patterns. We provide education resources, educator and student opportunities, and competitive funding for education projects.
- Open Climate CampaignThe goal of this multi-year campaign is to promote open access to research to accelerate progress towards solving the climate crisis and preserving global biodiversity.
- PAHO Health and Climate Change Country ProfilesThe WHO UNFCCC Climate and Health Country Profile Project aims to raise awareness of the health impacts of climate change, support evidence-based decision making to strengthen the climate resilience of health systems, and promote actions that improve health while reducing carbon emissions. These profiles provide country-specific estimates of current and future climate hazards and the expected burden of climate change on human health, identify opportunities for health co-benefits from climate mitigation actions, and track current policy responses at national level.