Human Health & Global Climate Change: A Review of Potential Impacts in the United States
Eileen Claussen, President, Pew Center on Global Climate Change
At the dawn of the twenty-first century, the population of the United States as a whole is one of the healthiest in the world. The socioeconomic development of the last century and a half both allowed for a vast improvement in sanitation and nutrition, and provided resources for the development and maintenance of a generally effective public health system. While current health concerns in this country revolve largely around lifestyle factors such as diet, alcohol use, and physical inactivity, climate change raises the possibility that environmental factors including higher temperatures and increased occurrence of infectious diseases --- could become a growing problem.
"Human Health and Global Climate Change" is the sixth in a series of Pew Center reports evaluating the potential impacts of climate change on the U.S. environment and society. The report finds that, in general, the United States should have sufficient resources to limit climate change impacts on human health over this century. At the same time, because the linkages between climate and human health are often complex and not well defined, it is difficult to predict exactly how climate change will impact human health in the United States. Nevertheless, there are some important findings worthy of our attention:
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Higher temperatures are likely to negatively affect health by exacerbating air pollution and increasing the occurrence of heat waves. The elderly, infirm, and poor are most at risk because these conditions can exacerbate pre-existing disease. Lack of access to air conditioning increases the risk of heat-related illness.
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While there is some indication that changing climatic conditions may increase the risk of vector- and water-borne diseases, sanitation and public health system infrastructures in the United States should prevent these diseases from becoming widespread. To prevent such outbreaks, it is vital that we take steps to maintain and strengthen these infrastructures, including increased surveillance and vector control. At the same time, global health impacts from infectious diseases will almost certainly be greater, as many countries lack either the resources and/or infrastructures to protect their populations.
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Uncertainty about adverse health effects should not be interpreted as certainty of no adverse health effects. Moreover, the potential for unexpected events --- e.g., sudden changes in climate or the emergence of new diseases cannot --- be ruled out.
The authors and the Pew Center gratefully acknowledge Drs. Kris Ebi, Duane Gubler, and Jonathan Patz for their review of previous drafts of this report. This report also benefited from comments received at the Pew Center's July 2000 Workshop on the Environmental Impacts of Climate Change. The Pew Center would also like to thank Joel Smith and Brian Hurd of Stratus Consulting for their management of this Environmental Impacts Series.