WHO report: Climate change is harming human health, funds still lag behind

The World Health Organisation's new report released on December 3 said that climate change is responsible for most ill-effects on human health yet the funding to tackle the crisis is lacking behind. The United Nations published its report a day after the climate summit began in Madrid in order to urge the world leaders to prioritize climate emergency and meet the ambitious targets to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases which are responsible for increasing the earth's temperature. The extreme weather conditions are responsible for people suffering from heat stress, and mosquito-borne diseases including malaria. 

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Climate change is causing health risks

The report draws data from nearly 101 countries and only 38 per cent of them actually have the finances to even partially implement the strategies of national health and climate change while less than 10 per cent countries are channelling their resources to implement them completely. Nearly 48 per cent of the countries have conducted an assessment registering the public health risks related to the environmental emergency. WHO quoted several vector-borne diseases such as cholera, dengue, or malaria. However, the report findings have failed to influence the allocation of human and financial resources required to battle the same. 

According to WHO report published on their website, “Over 75% reported a lack of information on opportunities to access climate finance, over 60% a lack of connection of health actors to the climate finance processes, and over 50% a lack of capacity to prepare proposals”. 

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Climate summit in Madrid 

The discussions began on the tremendous change in the climate due to a constant increase in the temperatures in the past few years which also led to the massive melting of the ice caps in the Arctic region, followed by the wildfires ranging from the Amazonian rainforests to the Australian forests. ''The world is witnessing devastating storms and hurricanes across several tropical regions leading to severe consequences,'' Guterres said. “Do we really want to be remembered as the generation that buried its head in the sand, that fiddled while the planet burned?” he questioned.

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