New Delhi: Climate change is likely to cause over 2.5 lakh additional deaths per year between 2030 and 2050, World Health Organisation (WHO) has said in a report.
These deaths will be caused due to malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress, it said, adding that climate change is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of drought at regional and global scale.
It said that rising temperatures and variable precipitation are likely to decrease the production of staple foods in many of the poorest regions of the world. This will increase the prevalence of malnutrition and under-nutrition, which currently cause 3.1 million deaths every year.
However, it said that climate change may cause fewer winter deaths in temperate climates and increase food production in certain areas.
Climatic conditions strongly affect water-borne diseases and diseases transmitted through insects, snails or other cold blooded animals, it said.
Climate change affects social and environmental determinants of health clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food and secure shelter.
Extreme high air temperatures contribute directly to deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory disease, particularly among elderly people, it said.
In the heat wave of summer 2003 in Europe for example, more than 70,000 excess deaths were recorded. High temperatures also raise the levels of ozone and other pollutants in the air that exacerbate cardiovascular and respiratory disease.
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