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The Global Health Threat of Climate Change

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Climate change is the biggest global health threat of the 21st century. Effects of climate change on health will affect most populations in the next decades and put the lives and wellbeing of billions of people at increased risk. During this century, earth's average surface temperature rises are likely to exceed the safe threshold of 2°C above preindustrial average temperature. Rises will be greater at higher latitudes, with medium-risk scenarios predicting 2-3°C rises by 2090 and 4-5°C rises in northern Canada, Greenland, and Siberia. With this current situation, the whole of U.K. population is at risk considering the changing patterns of disease, water and food insecurity, vulnerable shelter and human settlements, extreme climatic events, and population growth and migration. Although vector-borne diseases will expand their reach and death tolls, especially among elderly people, will increase because of heat waves, the indirect effects of climate change on water, food security, and extreme climatic events are likely to have the biggest effect on global health (Prof A. Costello FRCPCH, S Ball BSc, C Patterson LLB).

Aside from the bigger picture of climate change we still need to consider the leading global risk for mortality, Hypertension is responsible for 12.8% (7.5 million) of total deaths worldwide, according to a new report issued by the WHO. The report also identified hypertension as responsible for 3.8% of years of life lost due to premature death plus years of healthy life lost due to illness and disability (known as disability-adjusted life years) (Colin Mathers, PhD, coordinator for mortality and burden of disease at the WHO). Majority of the U.K. population is exposed to a total of 8 risk factors (hypertension, alcohol use, tobacco use, high body mass index, high cholesterol, high blood glucose, low fruit and vegetable intake, and physical

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