Climate change and global health: A call to more research and more action
Ioana Agache, Vanitha Sampath, Juan Aguilera, Cezmi A. Akdiş, Mübeccel Akdiş, Michèle Barry, Aude Bouagnon, R. Sharon Chinthrajah, William Collins, Coby Dulitzki, Barbara Erny, Jason Gomez, Anna Goshua, Marek Jutel, Kenneth W. Kizer, Olivia Kline, A. Desirée LaBeaud, Isabella Pali‐Schöll, Kirsten P. Perrett, Rachel L. Peters, Maria Pilar Plaza, Mary Prunicki, Todd L. Sack, Renee N. Salas, Sayantani Sindher, Susanne H. Sokolow, Cassandra L. Thiel, Erika Veidis, Britt Wray, Claudia Traidl‐Hoffmann, Christian Witt, Kari C. Nadeau
Abstract
There is increasing understanding, globally, that climate change and increased pollution will have a profound and mostly harmful effect on human health. This review brings together international experts to describe both the direct (such as heat waves) and indirect (such as vector-borne disease incidence) health impacts of climate change. These impacts vary depending on vulnerability (i.e., existing diseases) and the international, economic, political, and environmental context. This unique review also expands on these issues to address a third category of potential longer-term impacts on global health: famine, population dislocation, and environmental justice and education. This scholarly resource explores these issues fully, linking them to global health in urban and rural settings in developed and developing countries. The review finishes with a practical discussion of action that health professionals around the world in our field can yet take.