World Health Day marks global health effects of climate change.

AS SCIENTIFIC evidence linking climate change to adverse health consequences continues to mount, global public health advocates marked World Health Day 2008 by bringing attention to the problem as well as possible ways to protect against worsening health problems linked to climate change.

"The core concern is succinctly stated: Climate change endangers human health," said World Health Organization Director-general Margaret Chan, MD, MPH, on this year's World Health Day, which fell on April 7. "The warming of the planet will be gradual, but the effects of extreme weather events--more storms, floods, droughts and heat waves--will be abrupt and acutely felt. Both trends can affect some of the most fundamental determinants of health: air, water, food, shelter and freedom from disease."

Some of the climate-sensitive diseases already taking a devastating toll globally include malnutrition, which is linked to 3.5 million yearly deaths, diarrheal diseases, which kill more than 1.8 million, and malaria, which kills about 1 million each year.

"Climate change is sometimes debated as if it affected only the planet and not the people living on it," said United Nations Secretary-general Ban Kimoon, in a statement released on World Health Day. "This year's World Health Day is an opportunity to broaden this view by spotlighting the major health threats we face as a result of global warming."

Those threats include the quality and availability of water and food, wider spread of some infectious diseases and increased injury.

UNICEF also cautioned that the impact of climate change could fall disproportionately on women and children. The destruction of homes, schools and health centers in the wake of natural disasters such as floods and hurricanes are a major concern.

The main objective of World Health Day 2008, according to WHO officials, was to encourage public participation in the global campaign to protect health from the adverse effects of climate change. WHO officials said they aimed to put public health at the center of the U.N. agenda on climate change. The observance occurred during APHA's National Public Health Week, which also focused on climate change and public health.

WHO officials, along with partners such as the U.N. Environment Program, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the U.N. World Meteorological Association, are drafting a work plan and research agenda to gather better estimates of the scale and nature of health vulnerability and to identify strategies and tools for health protection.

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While the health impacts of climate change will be difficult to reverse, some already established measures in health and related fields are working to reduce the exposures to and the effect of a changing climate. For example, controlling disease vectors, reducing pollution and promoting efficient land use and water management are well-known and tested measures that can have a positive impact.

"Climate change is a serious challenge, the scale and scope of which will require a global response," said Joxel Garcia, MD, MBA, assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

For more, visit www. who.int/world-health-day/ en.