The superimposition of climate change and aging threatens global health, but China has made remarkable progress in air governance

Maria said that in recent years, China has made very remarkable progress in air governance. Meanwhile, China has taken the lead in the world in technological innovation fields such as the clean energy transition.

Climate change is no longer a distant health issue that affects the next generation. Every child born today and the health of residents in every country and region around the world are exposed to health risks related to climate change, and these risks are being magnified due to changes in the global population size and the deepening trend of aging.

Maria Neira, director of the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health at the headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO), expressed the above view in a recent interview with media such as Yicai.com.

Maria believes that climate change has led to an increase in the frequency of extreme weather (such as natural disasters like tornadoes and floods) and heat wave events, both of which have serious negative impacts on the health of the global population. Take heat waves as an example. They not only increase the risk of water and vector-borne disease transmission, raise the probability of heart and lung diseases, have a negative impact on people’s mental and psychological health, but also cause damage to crops and even lead to population displacement in some regions around the world.

The 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will be held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, from November 11th to 22nd, 2024. Last year, the United Arab Emirates, the host country of COP28, along with multiple parties including the World Health Organization, jointly launched the “Health Day” held for the first time at COP, elevating the issues of climate and health to the core position of global climate action.

According to Maria, this year’s COP29 will continue to carry out the “Health Day” event and promote “more ambitious” climate adaptation and intervention measures. It has announced the establishment of an alliance composed of the COP chair countries of the past five years (the United Kingdom, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Azerbaijan, and Brazil), which will ensure that “health” is always a priority agenda in the annual climate negotiations among countries.

She also said that during this year’s COP conference, the WHO will release a report, providing more evidence-based evidence on the threat of climate change to human health, in order to call on governments and other stakeholders around the world to take policy changes regarding the current climate and health crisis.

How should countries respond to climate change? Maria believes that this can be summarized by two words: mitigation and adaptation.

“Mitigation” means the need to intervene in the main causes of global warming, including the use of clean energy, reducing the burning of fossil fuels, changing crop production, industrial production methods and waste management methods, etc.

Air pollution and climate change are equivalent to the two sides of a coin. In other words, air pollution represented by the burning of fossil fuels has led to about 75% of climate change, which brings about a serious health crisis. Every year, 7 million premature deaths worldwide are related to diseases associated with air pollution. Maria said.

Maria said that in recent years, China has made very remarkable progress in air governance. Meanwhile, China has taken the lead in the world in technological innovation fields such as the clean energy transition.

As for “adaptation”, Maria believes that it means that countries need to establish a “more resilient and climate-resilient health system”, with a focus on enhancing the monitoring and early warning capabilities for high-temperature weather and key diseases.

With the deepening of global population aging, there are an increasing number of elderly people living alone in cities. They are at high risk when extreme weather such as heat waves strike. Maria believes that climate change and aging are superimposing threats to the health of vulnerable populations such as the elderly.

Data shows that China is one of the climate change sensitive areas, with a warming rate higher than the global average during the same period. From 1990 to 2019, the number of deaths related to high temperatures in China increased fourfold.

A research article recently published in “Nature Climate Change” by researchers from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Fudan University further predicted and analyzed that, considering only climate change and changes in population size, by the 2090s, deaths related to combined heat waves in China might increase by 4 to 7.6 times. If the trend of population aging is taken into account, the burden of all types of heat waves will further increase, and the combined effect of climate warming and aging is greater than the sum of their individual impacts.

In mid-September, the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration, in conjunction with 12 other departments including the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, issued the “National Action Plan for Healthy Adaptation to Climate Change (2024-2030)” (hereinafter referred to as the “Action Plan”). Maria believes, “This is very important and very timely.”

The action plan highlights intervention measures for key areas and vulnerable groups. Including strengthening the dynamic assessment of climate change health risks, vulnerabilities and resilience. Carry out assessments of the capacity of key regions and key vulnerable groups to adapt to climate change, and formulate plans for enhancing adaptability, etc.

Maria said, “A climate-resilient health system” should also provide better training for health human resources and support the development of health infrastructure in a cleaner and more reliable direction.

In her view, when China implements this action plan in the future, on the one hand, it should improve such a resilient health and wellness system; On the other hand, efforts should be made to promote cooperation and information sharing between the health department and departments such as energy, transportation and environment, integrate the concept of “health” into the construction of resilient cities, increase urban green space, and secure more resources and investment for the health and wellness sector.

Maria also expressed her expectations: She hopes that China can consider joining the “Climate and Health Change Action Alliance” (ATACH) led by the WHO, further promoting the inclusion of relevant indicators of climate change and health in the national development plan, and playing a more crucial leading role in this field.