Climate Change – The Biggest Health Threat Facing Humanity

This article was exclusively written for The European Sting by Ms. Mai AbouShloua, a second-year medical student in Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport (AASTMT), Egypt. She is affiliated with the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA), cordial partner of The Sting. The opinions expressed in this piece belong strictly to the writer and do not necessarily reflect IFMSA’s view on the topic, nor The European Sting’s one.

All the world has been speaking about COVID 19 and its drastic consequences, adversely impacting all the countries regardless their economic status. However, the core of the problem is not yet resolved, “Climate Change”. “Climate Change” is the first threat of the 21st century to global health according the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2018.Not only did the COVID 19 pandemic underline the inseparable links between climate and health, but also it did demonstrate how the climate is multidimensional.

Definition of climate change:

 The weather is what we experience on a day-to-day basis: a momentary atmospheric state characterized by the temperature, precipitation, wind, humidity, cloudiness, visibility and atmospheric pressure. It seems to vary from day to day in an irregular way, not following any particular pattern.

Public health is no more than a minute branch of environmental health. According to WHO, over 140,000 people are killed per year attributed to extreme weather events. Our health is inextricably linked to the environment we live in, from rural areas to dense cities, the water we drink to the food we eat, the places we live and the places we work. However, climate change has been taken lightly.

Climate change occurs in the following forms: sea-level rise, salinization of agricultural land, desertification and growing water scarcity, droughts and famines. The resulted losses are immense and unpredictable even by the IPCC. For instance, the Egypt’s Nile Delta is extremely vulnerable to sea level rise, a rise of just 1 meter would displace at least 6 million people A tangible example is Cyclone Aila that hit Bangladesh in 2009 killing over 200 and over 500,000 people were displaced.

What is the response to climate change?

The response is in form of two different approaches:

• Mitigation: attempting to enact measures to reduce the risk factors posing climate change.
• Adaptation: getting used to the situation, aiming to minimize the impact of loss and damage as much as possible
• Loss and damage: confronting the inevitable consequences of climate change by selecting the most appropriate response to the present risk profile.

The key message from this article is the mass education of the public about climate change. A small contribution of an individual would lead to an immense outcome. That is to say, man could shift to greener sources of energy and reduce one’s consumption. To achieve that, there ought to imminent policy-making strategies for youth engagement. For, youth, accounting for 16% globally, are the successors for whom the earth needs to be preserved. The first supporting stone in fulfillment is the inclusion of climate change in the curriculum especially medical students. According to an IFMSA survey (international federation for medical students’ association worldwide), only 15% of medical schools worldwide teach climate change, though our vision as doctors is to prevent the occurrence of the disease rather than curing. Additionally, in 12% of medical schools, the climate-change activities are led by students without any guidance of faculty members. 

About the author

Mai was born in 2005 in Egypt. She is now a second-year medical student in Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport (AASTMT). Her deep fondness of public health and its significance makes her eager to advocate for “Climate Change” which increases the inequality between countries. She did participate in numerous local, national and international events under the auspices of IFMSA. She was also part of a French NGO called “Climate Fresk ”.