ECOSF participated in the launch event of the new report on 'Health in the climate emergency – a global perspective'

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The new report 'Health in the climate emergency – a global perspective', was launched by the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) May 25, 2022. The report examines how the climate crisis is affecting health worldwide and calls for urgent action as billions of people are at risk, therefore we call for action against climate change to benefit health and also advance health equity. On behalf of ECOSF, President Manzoor Hussain Soomro participated in the online launch ceremony of this global report.

In a three-year global project, IAP has worked together with its regional networks in Africa (NASAC), Asia (AASSA), the Americas (IANAS) and Europe (EASAC) to capture diversity in evaluating evidence from their own regions to inform policy for collective and customised action at national, regional and global levels. A team of more than 80 scientists from all regions of the world has contributed to the project.

Climate change threatens the health of billions of people, especially those who contribute least to climate change, but many strategies to cut greenhouse gas emissions can improve health in the near-term.

Analysing extensive scientific evidence, the recent report offers a global review of the current knowledge and examines how climate change and its drivers are acting through a range of direct and indirect pathways to impact, for example:

• heat-related mortality and morbidity
• extreme events such as floods and droughts
• decreases in crop yield in some regions
• changes in the distribution of vector-borne diseases
• wildfires causing widespread exposure to air pollution

The report calls all stakeholders to take action in building climate–health resilience that will limit future risks. The very wide geographical coverage of IAP is invaluable in helping to communicate the voices of those – from low- and middle-income countries and vulnerable populations – who are not always heard during the processes whereby evidence informs international policy.

The global report is available here at this link.