
Health
Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year, from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress. Climate change affects the social and environmental determinants of health such as clean air, water, food, shelter, and security. Rising temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, extreme weather, and sea level rise can result in human exposure to extreme heat, disease, reduced food and water quality, poor air quality, and environmental degradation. These climate risks can increase human susceptibility to respiratory and cardiovascular disease; food, water and vector-borne diseases; threats to mental health and increased mortality among vulnerable populations. Other sector-related consequences include damage to water and sanitation infrastructure.
Promoting climate risk management and preparedness help people, communities, governments, and institutions become more resilient to changes in climate through preparedness and response assistance. Adaptive strategies, such as setting up extreme weather, early warning systems and monitoring and forecasting disease outbreaks, can improve preparedness. Integrating climate change into national and local health sector planning can develop community resilience to climate change and decrease the severity of health impacts. Strategies and policies aimed to reduce carbon pollution and mitigate climate change can independently influence human health, for example, reducing CO2 emissions can decrease exposure to air pollutants like sulfur dioxide.
Features
Heat Waves and Human Health: Emerging Evidence and Experience to Inform Risk Management in a Warming World
In the last three decades, the Earth has experienced record hot temperatures. This report from the USAID-funded Adaptation Thought Leadership and Assessments (ATLAS) project examines efforts to understand the risks of extreme heat on human wellbeing.
View ContentShifting Burdens: Malaria Risks in a Hotter Africa
Climate variability and change present both immediate and future risks to human health. This report by the Adaptation Thought Leadership and Assessment (ATLAS) project analyzes the shift in malaria transmission patterns based on projected temperature rise in the short, medium, and longer term (2030s, 2050s, 2080s).
View ContentFinancing the Climate-Health Nexus: A Guide for Developing Countries to Access Funds
Climate variability and change are expected to increase health risks for a range of diseases and illnesses, particularly in developing countries. This report developed by the USAID-funded Adaptation Thought Leadership and Assessments (ATLAS) project includes an overview of the funding landscape.
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