Context

• The World Health Assembly passed a resolution highlighting the increasing impact of climate change on health and called for radical measures to counter health risks.

About WHO

• Founded in 1948, the World Health Organization (WHO) is the United Nations agency that connects nations, partners and people to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable – so everyone, everywhere can attain the highest level of health. 
• By connecting countries, people and partners, WHO strives to give everyone, everywhere an equal chance at a safe and healthy life.

World Health Assembly

• The World Health Assembly is the decision-making body of WHO. 
• It is attended by delegations from all WHO Member States and focuses on a specific health agenda prepared by the Executive Board. 
• The main functions of the World Health Assembly are to determine the policies of the Organization, appoint the Director-General, supervise financial policies, and review and approve the proposed programme budget. 
• The Health Assembly is held annually in Geneva, Switzerland.

Climate change on Health

• Climate change presents a fundamental threat to human health by reversing decades of health progress.

• Climate change is undermining many of the social determinants for good health, such as livelihoods, equality and access to health care and social support structures. 
• Climate-sensitive health risks are disproportionately felt by the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, including women, children, ethnic minorities, poor communities, migrants, older populations, and those with underlying health conditions.

Key Findings

• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), reveals that 3.6 billion people already live in areas highly susceptible to climate change. 
• Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 2,50,000 additional deaths per year, from undernutrition, malaria, diarrhea and heat stress alone.
• Despite contributing minimally to global emissions, low-income countries and small island developing states (SIDS) endure the harshest health impacts. 
• In vulnerable regions, the death rate from extreme weather events in the last decade was 15 times higher than in less vulnerable ones.

Impacts of climate change on Health

• The health effects of climate change include respiratory and heart diseases, pest-related diseases like Lyme disease and West Nile Virus, water- and food-related illnesses, and injuries and deaths. 
• Climate change can cause disruption of food systems leading to an increase in malnutrition and hunger.
• Climate change has also been linked to increases in violent crime and overall poor mental health.
• Occupational heat stress affects  labourers and farmers directly exposed to excessive sunlight as part of their physically demanding tasks at work.

Conclusion

• It is important to build better, climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable health systems, to increase resilience to climate change and lower negative impacts on human health.