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Climate change is putting an increasing proportion of the global population at risk of heat-related death and diseases, and causing significant loss of work hours in vulnerable areas like India, sub-Saharan Africa, and South America, according to a study published in The Lancet journal.
The rising vulnerability to the heat-related risks of climate change is mirrored by increased exposure to higher temperatures. Despite a mean global temperature increase of 0.3 degrees Celsius between 1986 and 2017, the average temperature increase people were exposed to was more than double this (0.8 degrees Celsius).
With the pace of climate change outweighing the urgency of the response, the report provides cause for concern.
However, researchers also note promising trends in key areas for health, including the phase-out of coal, the deployment of healthier, cleaner modes of transport, and health system adaptation.
“The lack of progress in reducing emissions and building adaptive capacity threatens lives and health systems and must be addressed to avoid disruption to core public health infrastructure and overwhelming health services,” she added.
The annual report tracks 41 indicators across five areas: climate change impacts, exposures, and vulnerability; adaptation, planning, and resilience for health; mitigation actions and health co-benefits; finance and economics; and public and political engagement.
The indicators include weather-related disasters, food security, clean fuel use, meat consumption, air pollution and the number of scientific research articles about climate and health.
In 2017, over 157 million vulnerable people over the age of 65 were exposed to heatwaves, and 18 million more people compared to 2016.
Europe and the eastern Mediterranean are more vulnerable than Africa and southeast Asia, most likely due to ageing populations living in cities - 42 per cent of Europeans and 43 per cent of people in the eastern Mediterranean are aged over 65 and vulnerable to heat exposure, compared with 38 per cent in Africa and 34 per cent in southeast Asia.
However, as the prevalence of NCDs increases in low- and middle-income countries, the vulnerability of these populations also increases -particularly in southeast Asia where vulnerability to heat exposure has increased by 3.5 per cent since 1990.
On average, each person was exposed to an additional 1.4 days of heatwave from 2000 to 2017, compared with 1986-2005.
In 2017, 153 billion hours of labour were lost due to heat exposure, an increase of 62 billion hours relative to 2000. In addition, these changes were concentrated in already vulnerable areas in India, southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa, and South America.
Around 80 per cent of these losses were in the agricultural sector (122 billion hours lost), 17.5 per cent were in the industry sector (27 billion), and 2.5 per cent were in the service sector (4 billion).
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