A new study has declared climate change as a medical emergency though people generally refer it as a nature problem that is caused by pollution, fossil fuels and other human activities. The study revealed that its impact would be worse than high temperatures, droughts or more frequent storms.
The report estimated that increased risk of disease, much greater food insecurity, air pollution and many other factors collectively pose a catastrophic risk to human health.
A commission led by researchers at University College London (UCL) said that the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events will increase dramatically.
Rise in droughts, floods and storms might affect people and cause an increase in allergies, cardiovascular disease, and malnutrition. It can also cause other diseases such as respiratory diseases, infectious diseases and mental illness.
This means that climate change may have a counter-effect research done in technology and investment in public infrastructure and medical treatment over the last half-century.
The direct impact of climate change would come from heat waves, floods, droughts and storms while the indirect impacts would be in the forms of infectious disease patterns, pollution, malnutrition, mass migrations, and conflicts.
Ian Hamilton, Ph. D., of the UCL Energy Institute and co-author of the paper said, “There are physiological limits to how much work we can do in heat, which would affect people who work outdoors, like farm or construction workers. But heat stress would also affect elderly, low income, and other vulnerable people”.
