It is clear that climate change affects everyone around the world, but each country may face different effects in different ways.
To deal with this new threat, national authorities need information on the specific climate risks they are already facing, those that will come in the future, and the opportunities to mitigate the effects of climate change. That is why WHO and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNF CCC) have launched the Country Profiles on Health and Climate Change initiative to track national and global progress in this area.
For several years, countries in the European Region have witnessed numerous extreme weather events directly related to climate change, from floods to forest fires to heat waves, which have direct and indirect impacts on population health and health systems. Climate-related health emergencies in the Region are expected to become even more frequent and intense due to climate change.
The National Aspects on Health and Climate Change provide an overview of key action areas to address these threats and provide links to available resources.
Created in collaboration with national health departments, they summarize evidence of countries’ climate hazards and health risks. They track countries’ progress in addressing climate change-related health threats and highlight opportunities for health benefits from climate mitigation measures.
Several international organizations, including WHO, have released the country profiles for the first group of participating countries in the European Region for the current 2021-2022 global round. Highlights of the six new country profiles include:
– Bulgaria: population exposure to heat stress is likely to increase due to increased urbanization (and the associated urban heat island effect) and climate change, increasing the likelihood of severe heat waves.
– In the Czech Republic: climate change is increasing the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events, including droughts and floods. These events can displace people, affect water and sanitation infrastructure and services, and contaminate water with fecal bacteria (runoff or sewer overflow).
– In Iceland: Rising sea levels can lead to storm surges, coastal erosion, saltwater intrusion into groundwater, and disruption of ecosystems. These events can lead to population displacement and affect water and sanitation infrastructure and services, including water contamination.
– In Israel: As a result of climate change, total annual precipitation could decrease by about 25% by the end of the century. Freshwater scarcity is a constant reality in Israel. The ongoing challenge is to close the gap between demand and available natural water resources. Israel has addressed its water challenges by adopting a sustainable water management approach and developing advanced technologies for desalination and wastewater treatment.
– In Malta: The country has a water shortage problem. The government has embarked on a series of adaptation actions to protect Malta’s water security, which is threatened by climate change. These actions include a range of measures such as monitoring boreholes, constructing rainwater harvesting schemes, recycling wastewater for irrigation purposes and restricting the use of groundwater resources.
– In Slovakia: Climate change is already affecting the transmission and spread of vector-borne diseases, and its effects are likely to worsen. Therefore, the population’s exposure to vector-borne diseases may also change. Populations not previously exposed to some vector-borne diseases may be increasingly exposed in the future as rising global temperatures alter the distribution of vectors.
Several dozen countries have participated in the Country Profiles on Health and Climate Change initiative since its launch in 2015. Additional country profiles from the European Region (Belarus, Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Romania, Sweden, and Turkey) are under development and will follow soon.
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