Is fighting climate change more important than curing diseases and saving lives?

Main topic: Health

Other topics: Climate change, Science

Short answer:

• Climate change and curing diseases both are interconnected and equally essential concerns to address.
• The battle against climate change is also a struggle against health hazards and illnesses, especially infections that have the potential to spread throughout the globe.
• The likelihood of contracting infectious diseases, cardiovascular illness, Alzheimer's disease, and diabetes is rising, and climate change is directly or indirectly to blame.

Change in Average Temperature With Fahrenheit

Climate change and Diseases are two interconnected global challenges:

"The battle against global health threats and illnesses, particularly infections that have the potential to spread across a wide geographic area, is also, at its core, a struggle against climate change. We must see the well-being of people, animals, the economy, and the Earth as an integrated whole."

Is it possible to simultaneously reduce the risks of biodiversity loss and pandemics by taking action to combat climate change, which is a fundamental cause of the spread of diseases? The global community will have the chance to improve the connection between the health plan and the climate change agenda. Countries can give higher priority to investments that help them reach their overall climate obligations while also addressing the implications of climate change and the environment on health.

Why is it equally important to address climate change and fight health risks and diseases?

Our health depends on the environment and the other species that inhabit the same planet as us. The social and environmental factors that determine health, such as having sufficient food, clean drinking water, enough housing, and adequate air quality, are all impacted by climate change. It is anticipated that climate change will cause around 250,000 more yearly fatalities from hunger, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress between 2030 and 2050. A greater frequency and length of extreme heat events generate numerous public health concerns, each of which can potentially influence heat-related deaths and morbidity. Scientific papers have documented a rise in the prevalence of neurological disorders, including neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer's dementia, Parkinson's disease, and motor neuron diseases.

Long-term climate and animal habitat changes might substantially impact human health and raise the danger of infectious illnesses such as the coronavirus if global temperatures continue to rise.

The destruction of habitat is also caused by activities such as deforestation and widespread forest fires. There is a connection between deforestation and 31% of disease outbreaks, including those caused by the Ebola, Zika, and Nipah viruses.

What are Direct and indirect climate-sensitive health risks?

Health Risks, Source: maxpixel.net

Climate change is already affecting health in many ways. Extreme weather events like heatwaves, storms, and floods cause food systems to break down, drive more zoonoses, food, water, vector-borne diseases, and mental health problems. Also, climate change hurts many social factors necessary for good health, like jobs, equality, access to health care, and social support systems. Children, Women, poor communities, migrants, ethnic minorities or people who have been forced to move, older people, and people who already have health problems are more likely to be affected by health risks related to climate change.

Why the battle against climate change and the improvement of the health care system is both urgently needed?

Global Temperature And Forces With Fahrenheit

The effects of climate change are devastating, and they jeopardize the lives of all living things, including people, plants, and animals. The primary contributor to the climatic shift that is now taking place, which has numerous unfavorable effects, is the phenomenon known as global warming. The greenhouse effect, a natural phenomenon in which the atmosphere retains part of the heat from the sun, is responsible for rising temperatures and climate change. The presence of greenhouse gases is a natural factor that contributes to the continuation of life on Earth. However, the combination of their large numbers and the rise in average global temperature causes the climate on Earth to become unstable, which puts both human health and the health of the worldwide environment at risk. All nations must collaborate to combat the threat posed by climate change, which has no geographical limits; as the old adage goes, "Prevention is better than cure."

Similarly, improvements must be made to the healthcare system to save more lives. More than 188 nations and territories throughout the globe have been impacted by the COVID-19 issue, which has resulted in tremendous human suffering and a significant number of deaths. The crisis offered a substantial risk to the world economy since activity, employment, and consumption all dropped to levels much lower than those witnessed during the financial crisis that occurred in 2008.

Climate Change and cardiovascular diseases:

Cardiovascular disorders are regarded as the primary causes of immorality worldwide. The evil that might result from cardiovascular diseases is considerably more than that which can be attributed to any other reason. Much research has been conducted to investigate the effects of air temperature on total cardiovascular mortality. These studies have shown that days with hot or cold temperatures are associated with an increased risk of death from cardiovascular illnesses. The death rate from cardiovascular disease is expected to rise even more in the following decades due to rising temperatures and an increase in the number of days with high temperatures. As a result, appropriate preventative actions are needed to limit temperature impacts, with a particular focus on those more sensitive.

Over the last two decades, coronary heart disease has consistently ranked as the top cause of mortality worldwide. However, at this point, it is responsible for the deaths of more people than at any other time. These days, heart disease accounts for 16% of total mortality from all causes combined.