Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Reports Say Health Problems, Deaths From Climate Change Are Accelerating
Health problems tied to climate change are all getting worse, according to two reports published Wednesday. The annual reports commissioned by the medical journal Lancet tracked 44 global health indicators connected to climate change, including heat deaths, infectious diseases and hunger. All of them are getting grimmer, said Lancet Countdown project research director Marina Romanello, a biochemist. “Rising temperatures are having consequences,” said University of Washington environmental health professor Kristie Ebi, a report co-author. (Borenstein, 10/21)
As the planet heats up, an increase in wildfires, extreme heat, and drought is upending millions of lives worldwide, according to a new report from public health leaders around the world, putting the planet on the precipice of a global epidemic that could dwarf the COVID-19 crisis. The report, published Wednesday in The Lancet, details how little progress has been made to protect the world’s population from the health impacts of climate change, despite years of scientific reporting on the impacts of the crisis. (Shankman, 10/20)
Climate change is creating ideal conditions for infectious diseases to spread more quickly, according to The Lancet Countdown's annual climate report out Wednesday. It's just one of the increasingly urgent threats to human health emerging from global climate change. (Fernandez, 10/21)
Working construction under the merciless Arizona sun, Eleazar Castellanos knew the signs that heat exhaustion was settling in. On the days when the temperature would top 100 degrees, he and his coworkers would sweat profusely. Then came the cramps in their arms and legs, and the overwhelming urge to stop: take a break, get some water, cool down. But they couldn’t. Not if they wanted to get paid and return home to their families as breadwinners. “Many of the employers don’t understand, we need to have breaks, to have water,” Castellanos said. “You don’t stop, because you know if you stop, you stop getting money. We try to get it done whatever the situation is.” (Bagenstose, 10/20)
