Assessing the health impact of climate change

How does global warming impact on the health of populations in countries particularly affected by climate change? A recent study by Daniel Meierrieks, researcher at the Migration, Integration, Transnationalization unit, reveals how rising temperatures and other climatic developments increase infant mortality, while diminishing average life expectancy. For instance, such effects may be caused by the greater spread of infectious diseases and the increased likelihood of heat waves occurring.

The study is innovative for the breadth and the global perspective it offers, exploring the relationship between temperature, global warming and human health. To this end, Daniel Meierrieks analyzes data for 170 countries spanning the period from 1960 to 2016. The study shows that poorer countries were particularly vulnerable to the consequences of especially hot years and rising temperatures. For example, an average increase of about 1°C - roughly corresponding to the rate of global warming within said period - caused life expectancy in poorer countries to drop by at least half a year. Further increases in global temperature by several degrees Celsius that are anticipated for the coming decades will produce devastating effects on human health especially in the developing world, Daniel Meierrieks emphasizes.

The study also shows that efforts to adapt to climate change have so far proved unsuccessful. Considerable additional efforts to protect the climate and investment into national healthcare systems are indispensable for mitigating the calamitous effects of global warming.

3.11.20/16.11.20