Health
Climate change is expected to have a number of human health impacts, on balance mostly adverse. According to the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change, such impacts include:
- heat related mortality and morbidity and
- mortality and morbidity related to extreme weather events.
- increases in water and food borne disease
- changes in seasonality of vector borne diseases
- increases in health impacts of air pollution (ground level ozone and particles)
- population shifts and associated impacts on human health.
While considerable work has already been done on documenting the health effects of climate change, the work is characterised by a level of uncertainty and lacks sufficient precision upon which to base specific health adaptation action and policy.
NSW Health is undertaking research to more clearly characterise the effect of key climate change health impacts in NSW to assist in underpinning policy, to demonstrate future effects more clearly for NSW, and to provide some directions for the development of climate change adaptation programs.
For more information
The Impact of Climate Change on Health Facilities - Dr Jane Carthey (PDF 525kb). Presentation of research at the NSW Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Summit - 23 February 2007: Implications of climate change on human health and health infrastructure; Case studies; Future research directions.
NSW Health Adaptation Project (PDF 330kb). Presentation of research at the NSW Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Summit - 23 February 2007:Health impacts of climate change:pervasive, insidious, cumulative, mostly silent and inevitable.
Page last updated: 04 August 2008