Is it hard to imagine that climate change is putting a premium on public health around the world? Be it floods, repressive heat, unexpected rains, smog, the declining quality of air, exposure to contagious diseases, climate seems to be at the center of every challenge impacting lives around the world.
The year 2024 has been confirmed as the hottest year on record. South Asia is about to see much more rain during the monsoon season.
Europe is warming faster than any other region, and the impact on people’s health is growing more severe.
From rising death rates to increasing climate-related anxiety, nearly every health indicator linked to climate has worsened in recent years, according to World Health Organization.
The climate crisis has taken away lives in many parts of the world.
The answer may lie in more awareness and more coordinated effort to fix the climate degradation.
A new initiative – the Pan-European Commission on Climate and Health (PECCH) – has been launched to tackle the growing threat climate change poses to public health.
Chaired by former Icelandic Prime Minister Katrin Jakibsdotirr, the commission brings together 11 leading experts from across the region tasked with delivering recommendations for actionable solutions.
With nearly half of humanity already living in areas highly susceptible to climate change, a third of the world’s heat-related deaths occur in the European Region.
In the years 2022 and 2023 combined, more than 100,000 people across 35 countries in the European Region died due to heat.
“The climate crisis is not only an environmental emergency, it is a growing public health challenge,” said Katrin Jakobsdottir.
“We must recognize that the interplay among rising temperatures, air pollution and changing ecosystems resulting from human-induced climate change is already affecting the health and well-being of communities around the European Region and the world,” she said.
The commission is being tasked with providing recommendations to reduce emissions, invest in adaptation strategies that protect health, reduce inequality and build resilience.
The climate crisis disproportionately affects the health of the most vulnerable.
Andrew Haines, chief advisor to the WHO/Europe climate-health initiative, says from the spread of infectious diseases to heat-related illness and food insecurity, “climate change poses a serious and escalating threat to human health,” said
But Europe is the only region to experience the downside of climate deterioration. All regions of the world, as well as countries nationally, need to fight climate crisis as a battle for survival.
