Nearly 100 scientists call for health-centred response to climate change: Report

SINGAPORE – In the summer of 2022, record-breaking heatwaves blazed through parts of Europe, India, Pakistan and North Africa, triggering wildfires and heat-related deaths.

The changing climate has raised the risk of dengue transmission by 12 per cent globally over the past decade, compared with the 1950s.

Reporting these findings in top science journal Lancet, close to 100 scientists across the globe are calling for a health-centred response to the climate crisis, as its increasingly alarming health impacts are often less emphasised.

The seventh annual Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change report, released on Wednesday, pulled 43 indicators that monitor the health impacts of climate change and analysed the extent of solutions available to address the impacts.

Led by the University College London, the report represents the work of 99 experts from 51 institutions, including WHO, the World Meteorological Organisation and two researchers from Singapore.

The two researchers – Associate Professor Jason Lee and Dr Samuel Gunther from the National University of Singapore’s Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine – contributed to an indicator that investigated heat’s effect on light exercise.

They found that over the past decade, a typical person who did light exercise outdoors was at high risk of suffering heat stress for 238 more hours each year – a 42 per cent rise – compared with someone who did it 20 years ago.

A handful of new indicators and metrics were added to the new edition, including the impact of extreme temperatures on food insecurity and households’ exposure to harmful pollutants caused by burning fossil fuels.

In rural areas for instance, houses still use solid fuels for cooking and heating, and the fuels release hazardous ultra-fine particles called PM2.5 which can reach deep into the lungs. Across 62 countries in 2020, the average PM2.5 levels in houses exceeded the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) guidelines by 30-fold, said the report.

That same year, fossil fuel-derived particulate matter in the air led to 1.3 million deaths worldwide, the report added.

Food insecurity also worsened this year, with the economic effects of the Russia-Ukraine war pushing up food prices.

Extreme weather events have also shortened the growth of staple crops by up to 10 days compared with a few decades ago, reducing yield and harvests.

The report said: “The prevalence of undernourishment increased during the Covid-19 pandemic. This situation is now worsened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the energy and cost-of-living crises… threatening to result in 13 million additional people facing undernutrition in 2022.”

The experts’ call for a health-centred response to climate change comes less than two weeks before November’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt.

Beyond physical health, the report also touched on mental health. It noted that temperature spikes, heatwaves and humidity have been associated with worsened mental health outcomes and increased suicidality.

The experts recommended incorporating mental health management in disaster reduction plans and efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change. 

“Climate activism can be associated with increased mental wellbeing,” they added.