Climate Change and Health - report from The Lancet Climate Change Commission

The Greenhouse Gas Exchange and effects on health

While much of the attention in the debate on climate change has been focussed on greenhouse gases, notably CO2 emissions, ice melt, sea level rise and the increased magnitude of adverse and/or extreme weather conditions, an equally critical impact is on human health.  The Lancet in the United Kingdom established the Lancet Commission on Health and Climate Change which has published a series of periodic in-depth policy and analysis reports focussing on the effect of climate change on health, the latest of which in 2015 has reinforced the need for concerted Government level initiatives.

As noted by the Commission, the principal pathways linking climate change to health outcomes are categorised as direct or indirect mechanisms which interact with social dynamics to produce health outcomes. The direct risks are extreme weather  events and resultant storms, floods, droughts or heatwaves. The indirect risks are mediated through changes in the biosphere (such as the burden of disease, distribution of disease vectors or food availability) while others occur through social processes (such as migration and conflict) In summary, therefore there are three pillars which interact with each other influenced by factors such as changes in land use, crop yield, ecosystems, global development and demographic processes (shown in the diagram below). 

The 3 Pillars concept of interaction

An example of such interconnectivity, can be seen with rising temperatures and changes in precipitation patterns altering the viable  distribution of disease vectors such as mosquitoes carrying dengue and malaria. This is already the case with malaria and dengue reaching higher altitude highland regions which were previously unaffected. Changing weather patterns have a direct correlation to availability of non contaminated drinking water - both storms and droughts increase the risk of contamination and provide the conditions of bacterial growth. Ground level ozone (GLO) and particulate air pollutants are also strongly affected by climate change with increases in exposure to both being a known hazard.

The report can be accessed at the link below:

Climate Commission Report - Climate Change and Health