Sushmi Dey| TNN | Jul 11, 2016, 01.17 AM IST
HIGHLIGHTS
NEW DELHI: Climate change is likely to kill 250,000 more people each year by 2030, latest assessment by the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows. Most of these deaths will be caused from malaria, diarrhoeal disease, heat stress and malnutrition.
India, which already has a high burden of these diseases, is expected to contribute significantly to the global death toll. A separate study conducted by the University of Oxford, published in the international medical journal Lancet earlier this year, projected 130,000 deaths in the country from climate change in 2050.
The heaviest burden of diseases due to climate change will fall on children, women, elderly and the poor, further widening health inequalities between and within populations, WHO said. It asked countries, including India, to spend more to protect itself from health risks linked to climate, such as extreme weather events and outbreaks of infectious diseases.
The UN agency had set up an agenda and proposed key actions for its implementation during its recent Paris meet. WHO estimates that climate change is already causing tens of thousands of deaths every year.
These deaths arise from more frequent epidemics like cholera, as well as the vast geographical distribution of diseases like dengue and from extreme weather events, like heat waves and floods.