Air air pollution inflicting 13 deaths per minute worldwide: WHO report  

The WHO COP26 Special Report on Climate Change and Health, launched right this moment within the lead-up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, spells out the worldwide well being neighborhood’s prescription for local weather motion based mostly on a rising physique of analysis that establishes the numerous and inseparable hyperlinks between local weather and well being.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a light on the intimate and delicate links between humans, animals and our environment,” stated Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “The same unsustainable choices that are killing our planet are killing people. WHO calls on all countries to commit to decisive action at COP26 to limit global warming to 1.5°C not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it’s in our own interests. WHO’s new report highlights 10 priorities for safeguarding the health of people and the planet that sustains us.”ALSO READ: Delhi’s air high quality turns ‘hazardous’ for first time this 12 monthsThe WHO report is launched concurrently an open letter, signed by over two-thirds of the worldwide well being workforce – 300 organisations representing no less than 45 million docs and well being professionals worldwide, calling for nationwide leaders and COP26 nation delegations to step up local weather motion.“Wherever we deliver care, in our hospitals, clinics and communities around the world, we are already responding to the health harms caused by climate change,” the letter from well being professionals reads. “We call on the leaders of every country and their representatives at COP26 to avert the impending health catastrophe by limiting global warming to 1.5°C, and to make human health and equity central to all climate change mitigation and adaptation actions.”ALSO READ: ‘Wear masks’: Experts on methods to fight air pollution and covid in Delhi throughout winter | UniqueThe report and open letter come as unprecedented excessive climate occasions and different local weather impacts are taking a rising toll on folks’s lives and well being. Increasingly frequent excessive climate occasions, resembling heatwaves, storms and floods, kill 1000’s and disrupt thousands and thousands of lives, whereas threatening healthcare programs and services when they’re wanted most. Changes in climate and local weather are threatening meals safety and driving up food-, water- and vector-borne illnesses, resembling malaria, whereas local weather impacts are additionally negatively affecting psychological well being.The WHO report states: “The burning of fossil fuels is killing us. Climate change is the single biggest health threat facing humanity. While no one is safe from the health impacts of climate change, they are disproportionately felt by the most vulnerable and disadvantaged.”Meanwhile, air air pollution, primarily the results of burning fossil fuels, which additionally drives local weather change, causes 13 deaths per minute worldwide.The report concludes that defending folks’s well being requires transformational motion in each sector, together with on vitality, transport, nature, meals programs and finance. And it states clearly that the general public well being advantages from implementing formidable local weather actions far outweigh the prices.“It has never been clearer that the climate crisis is one of the most urgent health emergencies we all face,” stated Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director of Environment, Climate Change and Health. “Bringing down air pollution to WHO guideline levels, for example, would reduce the total number of global deaths from air pollution by 80% while dramatically reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that fuel climate change. A shift to more nutritious, plant-based diets in line with WHO recommendations, as another example, could reduce global emissions significantly, ensure more resilient food systems, and avoid up to 5.1 million diet-related deaths a year by 2050.”ALSO READ: Delhi govt seeks joint motion plan with neighbouring states to fight air air pollution throughout winterAchieving the objectives of the Paris Agreement would save thousands and thousands of lives yearly as a consequence of enhancements in air high quality, weight loss plan, and bodily exercise, amongst different advantages. However, most local weather decision-making processes at present don’t account for these well being co-benefits and their financial valuation.OPEN LETTER HEALTHY CLIMATE PRESCRIPTIONThe well being neighborhood world wide (300 organisations representing no less than 45 million docs and well being professionals) signed an open letter to nationwide leaders and COP26 nation delegations, calling for actual motion to deal with the local weather disaster.THE LETTER STATES THE FOLLOWING DEMANDS“We call on all nations to update their national climate commitments under the Paris Agreement to commit to their fair share of limiting warming to 1.5°C; and we call on them to build health into those plans;We call on all nations to deliver a rapid and just transition away from fossil fuels, starting with immediately cutting all related permits, subsidies and financing for fossil fuels, and to completely shift current financing into development of clean energy;We call on high-income countries to make larger cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, in line with a 1.5°C temperature goal;We call on high-income countries to also provide the promised transfer of funds to low-income countries to help achieve the necessary mitigation and adaptation measures;We call on governments to build climate-resilient, low-carbon, sustainable health systems; andWe call on governments to also ensure that pandemic recovery investments support climate action and reduce social and health inequities.”ALSO READ: Will convey regulation to sort out air air pollution in Delhi-NCR, Centre tells Supreme Court