Making a change

26 March 2009

2009 has been designated the ‘Year of Climate Change’. To date, much of the debate on this subject has focused on the environment, but it is now becoming clear that climate change is also likely to affect the health of millions of people. Threats include heat waves and flooding, changing patterns of infectious diseases such as malaria and dengue, and water scarcity and rising sea levels, which could displace hundreds of thousands of people. The impacts will be greatest in developing countries.

But it may not all be doom and gloom - some of the strategies to tackle climate change could also have positive implications for health. Encouraging people to walk rather than take the car could make populations more physically active, reducing obesity while also cutting urban pollution and road traffic accidents. Similarly, moving to cleaner fuels could reduce outdoor air pollution, thereby improving public health.

We are supporting work to explore such ‘co-benefits’ in more detail, in partnership with the Royal College of Physicians, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Department of Health, the National Institute for Health Research and the Academy of Medical Sciences.

An international team, led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, will model the impacts of policy choices aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions in key sectors, including energy, transport, housing, and food and agriculture. Case studies will consider the impacts in both developed and developing countries.

This work will contribute to the discussions at the UN climate change conference in December 2009 in Copenhagen, when political leaders meet to agree targets post-Kyoto. We will be working with the World Health Organization and other stakeholders, such as the UN Foundation, to raise awareness of this research, and the health impacts of climate change, during the course of the year.