Anar al contingut

Health & climate

The common climate variables (such as precipitations and temperature) and extreme weather events affect peoples' health. Climate directly influences infectious water-borne and vectors-borne diseases (such as it occurs with cholera, malaria, dengue and leishmaniosis amongst others), it has also an effect on these diseases' incidence and geographic distribution. 

Climate indirectly affects the state of a population's nutrition, because it impacts upon food production (mainly affecting the most basic elements of the daily human diet such as rice) and hygienic conditions of water for human consumption. The poorest populations all around the world are mainly affected by the health risks due to climate change. In fact, in the nineties, 95% of the deaths related to natural disasters occurred in countries with the lowest income.

CRESIB, concerned about this situation, is trying to understand the health impacts of climate change in the poorest countries. Therefore, CRESIB is developing the health & climate research program, which is focused on the problems that mainly affect these populations: infectious diseases and undernourishment, both of which are responsible of the biggest global burden of morbidity and mortality.