‘Most concerning findings yet’: Climate change effects on health reach record levels

Key takeaways:

• Heat-related deaths, high temperatures and extreme precipitation all reached new records in 2023.
• Investments into health care are needed to combat the effects of climate change, researchers said.

Several shifts in temperatures and weather patterns broke new records in 2023, threatening the health, nutrition and livelihood of people across the globe, a new report revealed.

“This year’s stocktake of the imminent health threats of climate inaction reveals the most concerning findings yet in our 8 years of monitoring,” Marina Romanello, PhD, executive director of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, said in a press release. “Once again, last year broke climate change records — with extreme heat waves, deadly weather events, and devastating wildfires affecting people around the world. No individual or economy on the planet is immune from the health threats of climate change.”

The Lancet Countdown, established in 2016, consists of hundreds of multidisciplinary researchers and health professionals who annually examine the links between climate change and health on global and regional levels.

According to the project’s 2024 report, 10 of the 15 indicators monitoring climate change-related health hazards, exposures and impacts reached new heights.

In 2023, heat-related deaths among those aged 65 years or older increased by 167% from levels in the 1990s, far greater than the 65% increase that would have been expected had temperatures not changed.

The researchers also found that people worldwide had exposure to an all-time high average of 1,512 hours of high temperatures posing at least a moderate risk for heat stress, an increase of 27.7% from the yearly average from 1990 to 1999.

Dry weather occurred frequently in 2023, as 48% of the global land area experienced at least 1 month of extreme drought, the second largest affected area since 1951.

The hot temperatures and droughts further contributed to a 31% increase in the number of people exposed to dangerously high particulate matter concentrations between 2003 to 2007 and 2018 to 2022 and 151 million more people experiencing moderate to severe food insecurity across 124 countries in 2022.

Meanwhile, 61% of the global land area saw an increase in extreme precipitation events from 2014 to 2023 compared with the average from 1961 to 1990, increasing the risk for infectious diseases, flooding and water contamination.

Worsening climate change has also had a significant impact on the spread of infectious diseases. In particular, the transmission risk for dengue by Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti mosquitoes saw marked increases.

Overall, an all-time high of over 5 million cases of dengue were reported across 80 countries and territories in 2023.

The researchers underlined that prioritization of — and financial investments into — health systems are needed to better protect people from the prevalent and extreme effects of climate change.

“Amidst global turmoil, the powerful and trusted leadership of the health community could hold the key to reversing these concerning trends and harnessing new opportunities to put the protection and promotion of health and survival at the center of political agendas,” Anthony Costello, co-chair of the Lancet Countdown, said in the release. “For successful reform, people’s health must be put front and center of climate change policy to ensure the funding mechanisms protect wellbeing, reduce health inequities and maximize health gains, especially for the countries and communities that need it most.”

References:

• Romanello M, et al. Lancet. 2024;doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(24)01822-1.
• The Lancet. Health threats of climate change reach record-breaking levels, as experts call for trillions of dollars spent on fossil fuels to be redirected towards protecting people’s health, lives and livelihoods (press release).