Module 3
Tackling the social determinants of health and workers' and occupational health and safety
Tool 10: Climate change
Tool overview
Climate change is an urgent, global health challenge that requires prioritized action now and in the decades to come. To avert catastrophic health impacts and prevent millions of climate change-related deaths, the world must limit temperature rise to 1.5 °C. Global heating of even 1.5 °C is still not considered safe, however, and every additional tenth of a degree of warming will take a serious toll on people’s lives and health.
While no one is safe from these risks, those whose health is being harmed first and worst by the climate crisis are the people who contribute least to its causes, and who are least able to protect themselves and their families against it: people in low-income and disadvantaged countries and communities. The climate crisis threatens to undo the last 50 years of progress in development, global health and poverty reduction, and to further widen existing health inequalities between and within populations. It severely jeopardizes the realization of UHC in various ways, including by compounding the existing burden of disease and by exacerbating existing barriers to accessing health services, often at the times when they are most needed.
These climate-sensitive health risks are disproportionately felt by the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, which may include women, children, ethnic minorities, poor communities, migrants or displaced people, older people and those with underlying health conditions. In the short to medium term, the health impacts of climate change in populations will be determined mainly by their vulnerability, their resilience to the current rate of climate change and the extent and pace of adaptation. In the longer term, the effects will increasingly depend on the extent to which transformational action is taken now to reduce emissions and avoid breaching of dangerous temperature thresholds and potential irreversible tipping points.
As with many other crises, refugees and migrants – whether they have already migrated or are migrating specifically because of the direct impacts of climate change – may be particularly vulnerable, with specific physical and mental health needs linked to their exposure to climate and environmental conditions. They often face a high number of health risks before, during and after their journeys, with access to primary care and continuity of health care often disrupted during the migration cycle by barriers to access (e.g. gender, cultural, financial, social and linguistic); by weak capacity within health systems and damaged infrastructure; and by various stressors such as economic insecurity, abuse, exploitation, lack of support or xenophobia.
Prevention, preparedness and the response capacity of health systems – including infrastructure, supplies and workforce – are key aspects in mitigating the potential health risks of climate change-induced displacement and global public health.
WHO has published global strategy on health, environment and climate change outlining a set of priorities and activities needed to improve lives and well-being sustainably through healthy environments. There is also a visual guide on country support for climate change and health.
Guidance and tools
Climate change and health
Guidance, training, reports
Tools
WHO supports and enables those ‘in the front line’ - the health professionals dealing with children and adolescent’s health - to recognize...
Climate Change and Health: Training modules
This training package on climate change and health was prepared initially in 2009 and substantially revised by a group of experts in 2014. It is a product...