Status: 09.11.2022 11:07 a.m
As climate change progresses, it will also affect health. In Europe, heat waves in particular are a danger, warns the EU Environment Agency. But previously unusual diseases could also spread.
Without further action on climate change, more people in Europe are likely to become ill or die from climate-related health effects. Unprecedented heatwaves, like those seen this year, pose the biggest direct climate-related health threat to Europeans, the EU environment agency EEA said in a report. Such heat waves are already causing numerous deaths and illnesses. Those numbers would increase without further action to adapt to and mitigate climate change, the EEA warned.
Gloomy scenario until 2100
According to EEA estimates, around 90,000 people could die each year from heat waves in Europe by the end of the century. This scenario for the year 2100 results from a warming of the earth by three degrees compared to the pre-industrial age, the EEA reported on Wednesday. “With a global warming of 1.5 degrees, the number reduces to 30,000 deaths annually.” According to the EEA, around 129,000 Europeans died from severe heat between 1980 and 2020.
Among other things, the most vulnerable groups can be better protected with action plans, the creation of green and shady places in cities, better building design and adapted working hours. It is time to move from planning to action.
Warning against the spread of diseases such as malaria
The Copenhagen-based EU agency looked at the extent to which climate change poses a threat to health and well-being in Europe for the new report. She focused on the effects of high temperatures and the climate-related spread of infectious diseases. Diseases such as malaria and dengue fever are therefore expected to spread further north as climate change increases, causing a higher burden of disease. The warming seawater could also spread the bacteria that cause cholera.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that at least 15,000 people had died in Europe this year as a result of the heat. The months of June, July and August were the hottest on the continent on record. In general, there was an escalation of heat waves, droughts and forest fires in Europe this summer, explained WHO Regional Director Hans Kluge – all of this had health effects on the population.