Climate change and its impacts on health, environment and economy
Jorge Rocha, Sandra Oliveira, Cláudia M. Viana, Ana Isabel Ribeiro
Abstract
Climate change is one of the greatest threats to human health in the 21st century. Global surface temperatures are rising and the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, droughts, floods and storms, are expected to increase in the upcoming decades. Humans, animals, and the overall environment, will be impacted by climate change. Health can be affected directly through environmental hazards and through changes in the patterns and dynamics of a subset of infectious diseases; indirectly, health can be affected by changes in food sources, disruption of methods of food production, and decreased economic productivity. This chapter intents to review the pathways by which climate change may affect health under the transdisciplinary One Health perspective.