Climate change is a problem of such broad dimensions that it is difficult to break down conveniently in terms of specific impacts on specific sectors. The environmental consequences of climate change are the most obvious, but there are also political, economic, social and security concerns that come into play. All of these concerns were debated, with varying degrees of success, during the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia (Dec. 3–14), but what went largely ignored at the conference were the direct and indirect effects of climate change on human health.

FEVER PITCH: Overcrowding in a Cambodian hospital forces parents to accept makeshift treatment for children suffering from last summer’s wet-season outbreak of dengue fever. The world’s poor are by far the most vulnerable to effects of climate change.
Photo: Reuters

Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), has stated publicly that climate change will be this century’s “defining issue for public health.” Given the worst-case climate change scenarios that scientists have modelled (and even some of the more optimistic ones), Chan is not engaging in hyperbole. In fact, nearly every single climate change phenomenon will carry health-related consequences in some way or other.

As a result, various healthsector professionals and journalists are trying to come up with ways to communicate more clearly and effectively the close relationship between climate change and health. In the words of WHO’s Roberto Bertollini: “Climate change has moved to the forefront, but not with health as the focus.” Bertollini agrees with claims that global warming is contributing to an increase in extreme weather events, and is also concerned that many of the major killers (viruses and vector-borne diseases) are climate sensitive. He believes that health professionals and agencies need to study the observable effects of climate change in order to provide tangible links between climate change and health. Precise details are important, he says, because mere predictions and forecasts can be risky in trying to convince target audiences. Bertollini adds, however, that such prognosticating can be useful in terms of trying to set specific health organisation goals.

Walking the talk

Robin Stott, vice chair of Medact and cochair of the BMJ-initiated Climate and Health Council, has spent his entire professional life in the medical field and is a strong advocate for taking personal and collective responsibility for human impact on the environment. Drawing inspiration from figures such as Ivan Illics and Nelson Mandela, Stott echoes the inspirational South African’s call for people to find a way to “live in the world without destroying it”—to bring about instead a “flourishing global civilisation.” Stott believes that the two greatest problems confronting global society are climate change and the widening resource gap between rich and poor populations.

And while many people are deeply concerned about these very issues, he insists that each of us needs to “walk the talk” in terms of changing our lives and habits in order to reduce our environmental impact on the planet, and that failure to do so undermines anymoral authority behind any ostensibly green advocacy. Speaking in Geneva at a late-January ‘dialogue’ between journalists and health professionals, Stott asked how many people in the room knew the size of their carbon footprint, and then if they knew the infant mortality rate of the country in which they lived. From the number of hands that went up (or rather, how many did not), it became clear that many in the room lacked some basic information and awareness of—and, perhaps, commitment to—the very issues that were being discussed.

THE HEALTH EXPRESS: Nutritious fast-food restaurants, like this one in Athens, can help to promote healthier lifestyles.
Photo: Reuters

According to Stott, the United States produces 20 tonnes per person in annual carbon emissions. European Union residents produce half that amount on average, while Chinese and Indian totals are just 3 tonnes and 1.5 tonnes respectively. But the truly alarming figure is that our planet only has the capacity to sustainably absorb annual carbon emissions of 1.4 tonnes per person. Clearly, our current emission levels need to come down, and quickly.

Stott even warns that if we are somehow able to reach a global CO2 emissions target of 450ppm, there is still a fifty-fifty chance of very serious climate change taking place. In the face of such dire warnings, Stott remains adamantly optimistic that disaster can be averted if enough people commit themselves to reducing consumption. “Not only are there ways to shrink our personal carbon footprint, we can also make the effort to ensure that the organisations we are associated with do likewise,” he says. “What I think is imperative is that we advocate for a healthpromoting post-Kyoto arrangement.”

Greener lifestyles, better health

Implementing real policy change at national, regional and municipal levels requires clear vision, lots of money, widespread cooperation—and time. Such policy changes will be vital in the long run toward mitigating the effects of climate change, but there are several ways that individual citizens in all parts of the world can make efforts today to not only green the planet, but to enjoy better health. While schools and educational institutions can help tremendously with information campaigns to get young people involved with ways to save energy at home, hospitals, doctors and medical organisations (such as WHO) can encourage more active lifestyles and healthier diets that can lead to many other environmental and social benefits.

Anna Coote, commissioner of health at the UK Sustainable Development Commission, argues that health systems must more effectively prevent people from needing to go to hospital to begin with, but warns that terms such as ‘prosperity’ and ‘the bottom line’ first need to be broadly redefined in order to avoid providing what could actually be described as an “illness service.” Coote lists walking and cycling as activities that not only benefit respiratory and overall health, but also decrease the amount of motor traffic, which in turn leads to fewer motor vehicle accidents and injuries.

In termsof diet, encouraging people to buy food from local producers and markets is another win-win strategy, according to the health commissioner. Not only does this lead to reduced consumption of fast food (a major cause of obesity), but locally grown foods contain fewer chemicals, and require less packaging and transport. Buying fresh, near-to-home products (even if they are a little bit more expensive) helps to stimulate local economies, and an economically healthy community is also better for mental health, Coote explains.

From the mouths of babes

The two-day Geneva discussion on climate change and health concluded on an upbeat note with some enthusiastic participation from members of the Australian Youth Delegation to the Model United Nations. More than a dozen young people articulated a range of opinion about climate change and health, and suggested several ways that health organisations and green campaigns can communicate to young people more effectively, as the right kind of messages can have significant and lasting effects: One delegate, for example, described his youngest brother as the family’s environmental conscience and ‘energy policeman’.

Other delegates were more cynical and expressed frustration with politicians, governments and polluting industries that either fail to make environmental commitments or pay such problems the merest lip service. Such pessimism is well founded indeed, but the general consensus among these charismatic young delegates and their listeners was that positive messages need to be sent out, and in such a way that each person feels that they can make an important difference. And, hopefully, health issues will soon begin to be mentioned in the same breath with climate change concerns. You can link to a full report of the World Health Editors Network meeting in Geneva on the WHEN pages of the WHCA.