The development of the climate crisis will not only cause damage to the planet but, as countless scientific studies have warned, it will also be harmful to people’s health. That’s why the World Meteorological Organization (WHO) called for “adaptation of health systems” to deal with the impact of extreme heat waves, increased pollution as well and other climate disasters on the health of the population. “We need to channel more efforts into strengthening health services at a time when the climate has experienced a series of unprecedented changes and all this has already affected the well-being of people,” said Petteri Taalas, director of this institution.
This call to strengthen Global health services (from primary care centers and hospitals to surveillance networks for emerging diseases) is among the main messages that emerged from the annual study published by the United Nations Agency on Climate Conditions. On this occasion, the experts want to emphasize the need to create “early warning signals” to warn doctors of approaching events such as extreme heat waves so they can be prepared to answer more questions associated with high temperatures and, in turn, may be more alert in particularly vulnerable populations.
“The climate crisis is also a public health crisis”
“The climate crisis is also a public health crisis fueling disease outbreaks and contributes to a higher rate of pathologies and non-communicable diseases,” said Tedros Adhanom, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) after the publication of this latest report. “We must work together to make High quality and accessible alert service for the health sector. Only in this way can we protect the health and well-being of people who are facing the dangers of climate change,” added the spokesperson of this entity.
Surveillance systems
The report published this Thursday was prepared by a panel of more than 30 experts from around the world. The Barcelona Supercomputing Center his Global Health Resilience team and scientist Rachel Lowe is the only research center in Spain that contributed to the preparation of this study. According to this work, this time less than a quarter of global ministries of health there is a specific observation system to provide meteorological information to health systems. “This information will add to the social stability in climate change”, explained Lowe.
An illustrative example of How this connection between the meteorological and healthcare worlds can be improved is the pilot program implemented in Catalonia a few months ago. The Mútua de Terrassa and the Servei Metereològic de Catalunya have signed an agreement to improve health care in periods of extreme climates. According to the promoters of this initiative, in this pilot program, meteorologists will alert doctors about the arrival of certain potentially harmful episodes, and they, in turn, will focus on providing advanced recommendations for patients and intensifying monitoring of the most vulnerable populations in certain scenarios.
