NEW YORK - A panel of international specialists gathered by The Lancet published a research on the detrimental health effects of climate change the day before the most recent United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) got started. Their plain yet startling conclusion was that fossil fuels are responsible for the current state of human health.
At COP27, health unfortunately remained the least important issue. Undoubtedly, at the World Health Organization's side pavilion, some significant health-related discussions took place. Given the current COVID-19 outbreak in Europe and the US, which is being fueled by the most recent Omicron subvariants, these conversations were very pertinent. However, the COP27 declaration makes no significant mention of the connection between climate change and health other than a blink-and-you-miss-it reference in the prologue.
It's a conspicuous omission. The relationship between climate and health is complex and wide-ranging. Take mosquitoes, which are carriers of diseases like dengue fever, malaria, and the Zika virus, as an example. Consider how warmer temperatures and extreme flooding have fostered the spread of mosquitoes well beyond their natural breeding sites. If nothing is done, dengue fever will strike 60% of the world's population by 2080 and Zika will endanger an additional 1.3 billion people by 2050.
Similar to how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that likely caused COVID-19, did, climate-driven migration and dwindling animal habitats raise the possibility that viruses and germs will move from animal hosts to people. This increases the likelihood of a new epidemic.
The effects of air pollution on chronic non-communicable diseases like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are also being exacerbated by global warming. Arvind Kumar, the Delhi-based founder of the Lung Care Foundation, regrets that almost everyone in India has a smoking-related health profile due to air pollution. In reality, its impacts cause the deaths of close to 1.7 million Indians annually.
People who have contributed the least to these climate-related health problems are frequently those who are most affected by them. Many people live in Pakistan, Mozambique, and Bangladesh without even owning an automobile. Yet they are experiencing floods, cyclones, and rising sea levels as a result of pollution from rich nations.
Fortunately, we can address the health issues that climate change poses by learning important lessons from the pandemic response. We first require a revolution in data gathering and analysis. During the pandemic, global systems to collect and share pertinent data advanced substantially, yet we are still only utilising a small portion of the data produced. Even worse, data often becomes separated into siloes.
We must combine clinical, epidemiological, and genomic data from health systems with a variety of non-health data, such as information on weather patterns, wastewater surveillance, consumer behaviour, and even social media and mobility, to get a more complete picture of the health effects of climate change. However, much more has to be done. New open-source systems like Global.health are a significant start in the right direction.
Another lesson from the pandemic is the need for sustainable financing for any resilience programme in order to prevent relapsing into the cycle of fear and neglect. Numerous international players, notably those involved in the field of vaccine research, responded quickly and cooperatively when COVID-19 first surfaced.
Large sums of money were used to assist short-term projects, but not nearly enough money has since been allocated to pandemic preparedness and prevention. As with the immediate dramatic repercussions of climate change, such as natural disasters, governments have reacted, but efforts to address the climate crisis have been scant.
In order to change global finance for the twenty-first century, notably by ensuring that it supports climate action and pandemic prevention, international leaders should first endorse the Bridgetown Agenda. They should also seize every chance to discuss the relationship between climate change and health challenges in fora on the world stage, such as this month's UN Biodiversity Conference in Montreal.
The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us one more crucial lesson: a successful response depends on community trust and involvement. Community-based organisations and civil society will be crucial in establishing whether there is widespread public support for an ambitious agenda that addresses both climate and health, much like with face masks and vaccines.
This will necessitate an extensive, policy-shaping conversation that creates a shared vocabulary and intents between sectors. Where should we focus our efforts to both avoid and ameliorate the health effects of climate change? Why is an adaptation agenda becoming more necessary, and where should we adjust to the health implications of global warming?
A catastrophic temperature increase of 2.8°C by the end of the century was predicted by the UN in October, which verified that the world is unlikely to achieve the target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels set forth in the 2015 Paris climate agreement. The 1.5°C target is currently on "life support," as the United Kingdom's COP27 representative Alok Sharma remarked after the summit.
It needs to be revived, and the first step in doing so is realising that the topics of climate change and public health are interrelated. Together, they can and must be overcome.
The Rockefeller Foundation's senior vice president for the Health Initiative is Naveen Rao. The Pandemic Action Network's executive director and co-founder is Eloise Todd. Project Syndicate, 2022, copyright.
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