Climate change poses a health threat through increasing weather disasters and extreme heat, the UN said Thursday, calling for better warning systems that could be weaved into public health policy.
Between 2000 and 2019, the estimated deaths due to heat were approximately 489,000 per year, it said, adding: “the impacts are underestimated as heat-related mortality could be 30 times higher than what is currently recorded.”“Practically the whole planet has experienced heatwaves this year,” he said.
Less than a quarter of health ministries have a health surveillance system which uses weather information to monitor climate-sensitive health risks. The report highlighted the usefulness of early warning systems for extreme heat, pollen monitoring and satellite surveillance for climate-sensitive diseases.