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Impacts of Global Climate Change on Human Health: Overview, Effects, and Adaptation Strategies

Explore how global climate change affects human health, including direct and indirect impacts, with a focus on adaptation strategies. Learn about the interconnected factors influencing vulnerability and the importance of public health and cross-sectoral measures in mitigating risks.

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Impacts of Global Climate Change on Human Health: Overview, Effects, and Adaptation Strategies

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  1. Impacts of global climate change on human health Simon Hales Wellington School ofMedicine, Wellington, New Zealand

  2. Readings • Many high quality reports and journal articles are available online • Some resources for researchers are also available, including climate data and scenarios

  3. Overview • What is climate change? • What are the relevant health issues? • What factors affect vulnerability? • What options are available for adaptation?

  4. Global climate change • Destabilization of the Earth’s climate due to altered composition of the atmosphere (increased concentrations of “greenhouse” gases such as CO2) • Greenhouse gases trap solar radiation leading to global warming

  5. Likely effects of climate change • a rise in sea level of about 50cm by 2100 • A progressive increase in temperatures; an increased occurrence of very hot days, and a decrease in very cold days • an intensification of the global hydrological cycle, with altered global patterns of floods and droughts

  6. Main types of potential health impact of global climate change • direct effects (relatively easy to assess) • indirect effects (more difficult to assess, but expected to predominate)

  7. Direct effects • sea-level rise, with population displacement and damage to infrastructure • altered frequency of extreme events (deaths, injuries, psychological disorders) • exposure to thermal extremes (altered rates of heat and cold-related illness and death)

  8. Indirect effects • altered local ecology of water-borne and food-borne infective agents • altered food production due to changes in climate, weather events, and associated diseases • effects on the range and activity of vectors and infective parasites

  9. social, economic and demographic dislocations due to adverse climate change impacts on economy, infrastructure, and resources

  10. IPCC’s conclusion • “climate change is likely to have wide-ranging and mostly adverse impacts on human health, with significant loss of life” (IPCC, 1996)

  11. Some complexities... • Interdependence of climate change with other global issues • Complex mechanisms and feedbacks at local, regional and global scales

  12. Some key implications • Human health is an “integrating” outcome of climate impacts • Impacts will be strongly dependent on non-climate factors (upon local and regional context or “vulnerability”) • Impacts might be greatly lessened by effective adaptations which reduce vulnerability

  13. Determinants of vulnerability • Poverty and inequality • Resources: technical, economic, community,natural resources • Population trends: growth, urbanisation, migration

  14. “Cross-sectoral” measures Public policies to reduce vulnerability, including promotion of social equity within and between countries; rescheduling or cancellation of foreign debt; alteration of trade rules

  15. “Public health” measures Improved surveillance of disease incidence and vector populations; vector control measures; epidemic warnings; possibly quarantine measures; improved public health infrastructure

  16. “Inter-sectoral” adaptation measures (outside the health sector): early warning systems; planning of human settlements; disaster preparedness programmes; civil engineering planning; safe water supplies; waste management; sanitation

  17. Summary • Many “no regrets” measures are possible • These would address current health problems in the short term • In the long term, successful adaptation to climate change requires ecologically sustainable development

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