Climate change and health

In her article (December 2), the British High Commissioner writes about climate change and weather disturbances and how this will affect the world. It is important to include another important consideration: climate change and the effects this will have on health.

The Prescription For A Healthy Planet was presented to the EU Commissioner for Health in Brussels on October 6, at the Health Environment Alliance (HEAL) annual general assembly. Action for Breast Cancer was represented at this meeting and our membership of HEAL lends our support to including health as a major concern in relation to climate change.

The Lancet Commission report says that "the effects of climate change on health will affect most populations in the next decades and put the lives and well-being of billions of people at increased risk. These impacts will be disproportionately felt by the most vulnerable populations - the poor, the very young, the elderly and the medically infirm. The World Health Organisation predicts health impacts including: higher levels of some air pollutants and concomitant increased respiratory disease; the spread of diseases such as cholera, malaria, dengue fever and other infectious diseases; the compromising of agricultural production and food security in some of the least developed countries leading to greater malnutrition".

Healthcare providers and public health practitioners will be on the front lines, confronting and adapting to this changing landscape and shifting burden of disease. This will come at a cost: the more severe the health-related symptoms of climate change, the greater the outlay of financial and human resources that will be required to treat them.

Reducing our reliance on fossil would have the added benefit in reducing the number of respiratory illnesses related to such energy consumption, thereby improving public health. Visionary action to mitigate climate change now will go a long way towards avoiding major health challenges in the future.

A prescription for a healthy planet can be viewed on the HEAL website. The main points are:

Protect public health: Take into account the significant human health dimensions of the climate crisis along with the health benefits of climate change mitigation policies. In conjunction with this, a portion of climate mitigation and adaptation funds should be targeted for the health sector. This is needed to ensure evidence of the health impact of climate change is continuously updated and brought to policymakers so that the health sector can adapt to the health impact of climate change while reducing its own climate footprint. The health sector should also be adequately represented on all national delegations to Copenhagen.

Transition to clean energy: A viable accord must promote solutions to the climate crisis that move away from coal, oil, gas, nuclear power, waste incineration and fossil-fuel-intensive agriculture. The Copenhagen treaty should foster energy efficiency as well as clean, renewable energy that improves public health by reducing both local and global pollution.

Reduce emissions: In order to protect human and environmental health, the world's governments must take urgent action to drastically reduce worldwide emissions by 2050.

Finance global action: A fair and equitable agreement in Copenhagen should also provide new and additional resources for developing countries to reduce their climate footprint and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

The Action Against Breast Cancer ABCF wishes HEAL representatives attending the Copenhagen talks every success in their campaign to include world health.