Climate change-related hazards have caused death rates among older people to soar and a spike in the risk of infectious diseases as a result of heavy rainfall, an annual audit of health threats from global warming found.
The review by more than 100 scientists published in The Lancet underscores how climate change threatens both survival and quality of life. Low and middle-income countries are hit hardest, it said, as each fraction of a degree rise in global mean temperatures compounds the problems.
“This year’s stocktake of the imminent health threats of climate inaction reveals the most concerning findings yet in our eight years of monitoring,” said Marina Romanello, executive director of the project, known as the Lancet Countdown, at University College London.