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A collection of leading health and medical journals this week called for swift action to tackle climate change, urging governments to cooperate and invest in the environmental crisis with the degree of funding and urgency they are using to confront the coronavirus pandemic.
in an editorial Published in more than 200 medical and health journals worldwideIn , the authors declared a 1.5-degree rise in global temperatures to be the “greatest threat to global public health.” The world is on track to warm about 3 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2100, according to current policies.
“Science is certain; A global increase of 1.5°C above the pre-industrial average and continued loss of biodiversity risks catastrophic and irreversible damage to health, the authors wrote. “Actually, no temperature rise is ‘safe’.”
While medical journals have published editorials in the past, this marked the first time that publication has been coordinated at this scale. A total of more than 200 journals have published papers representing every continent and a wide variety of medical and health disciplines, from ophthalmology to veterinary medicine. The authors are editors of leading journals, including The Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine.
In the editorial, they voiced concerns not only about the direct health consequences of rising temperatures, including heat-related deaths, pregnancy complications, and cardiovascular disease, but also about the indirect costs, including the effects of soil depletion on malnutrition and the possibility of it. widespread destruction of habitats may increase the likelihood of future pandemics.
The editorial urged rich countries to go beyond their targets and commit to emissions reductions commensurate with their cumulative, historical emissions. It also called for them to go beyond their stated $100 billion targets for climate resilience plans in developing countries, including funding to improve health systems.
The editor-in-chief of the East African Medical Journal, Dr. “Although low- and middle-income countries have historically contributed less to climate change, they carry an overload of adverse effects, including health,” said Lukoye Atwoli. co-authors of the editorial, in a statement. “Therefore, we call for equitable contributions for the world’s wealthier countries to do more to offset the climate impact of their actions.”
Sue Turale, editor-in-chief of the International Nursing Review and co-author of the editorial, said in a statement, “As our planet faces catastrophes from climate change and rising global temperature, healthcare professionals everywhere have a moral responsibility to take action to avoid it.”
The publication precedes several months of intense climate and environmental conferences. The UN General Assembly is scheduled to meet in New York this month, the UN’s biodiversity summit will meet in Kunming, China in October, and the UN Climate Change Conference, known as the COP, will meet in Glasgow in November.
A growing body of research has shown that extreme weather events worsened by climate change contribute to a wide range of adverse health outcomes. Earlier this year a study It found that around one-third of heat-related deaths worldwide could be attributed to the extra warming associated with climate change. And this summer, hundreds of Americans died in extreme weather events. more than 600 During a record-breaking one-week heatwave in the Pacific Northwest, climate scientists say “It is almost impossible without climate change.”
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