Human Health Impacts of Climate Change in Portugal: Study Approach and Key Findings

Recently, there has been a strong interest in the climate emergency and the human health impacts of climate change. Although estimates have been quoted, the modeling methods used have either been simplistic or opaque, making it difficult for policy makers to have confidence in these estimates. Providing central estimates of health impacts, without any quantification of their uncertainty, is deficient because such an approach does not acknowledge the inherent uncertainty in extreme environmental exposures associated with spiraling climate change and related health impacts. Furthermore, presenting only the uncertainty bounds around central estimates, without information on how the uncertainty in each of the model parameters and assumptions contribute to the total uncertainty, is insufficient because this approach hides those parameters and assumptions which contribute most to the total uncertainty. We propose a framework for calculating the catastrophic human health impacts of spiraling climate change and the associated uncertainties. Our framework comprises three building blocks: (A) a climate model to simulate the environmental exposure extremes of spiraling climate change; (B) a health impact model which estimates the health burdens of the extremes of environmental exposures; and (C) an analytical mathematical method which characterizes the uncertainty in (A) and (B), propagates the uncertainty in-between and through these models, and attributes the proportion of uncertainty in the health outcomes to model assumptions and parameter values. Once applied, our framework can be of significant value to policy makers because it handles uncertainty transparently while taking into account the complex interactions between climate and human health.

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Examining uncertainties in the linkage between global climate change and potential human health impacts in the western USA -- Hexachlorobenzene (HCB) as a case study

10.2172/231511 ◽

1994 ◽

Author(s):

T.E. McKone ◽

J.I. Daniels ◽

M. Goldman

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Human Health ◽

Global Climate Change ◽

Global Climate ◽

Health Impacts ◽

Western Usa ◽

Human Health Impacts ◽

Potential Human Health

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Climate change and human health: impacts, vulnerability, and mitigation

The Lancet ◽

10.1016/s0140-6736(06)68933-2 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 367 (9528) ◽

pp. 2101-2109 ◽

Cited By ~ 248

Author(s):

A Haines ◽

RS Kovats ◽

D Campbell-Lendrum ◽

C Corvalan

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Human Health ◽

Health Impacts ◽

Human Health Impacts

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Beyond the News: Health Risks of Climate Change

McGill Journal of Medicine ◽

10.26443/mjm.v12i1.736 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Kristie L Ebi

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Human Health ◽

Health Risks ◽

Health Care Professionals ◽

Scientific Literacy ◽

Current Knowledge ◽

Health Impacts ◽

Extreme Weather Events ◽

Potential Health ◽

Impacts Of Climate Change

Climate change is affecting the health of millions of people through altering the geographic distribution and incidence of climate-sensitive health outcomes, including through injuries, illnesses, and deaths due to extreme weather events, food-, water-, and vectorborne diseases, air pollution, aeroallergens, and malnutrition (1). The magnitude of impacts is projected to increase as the climate continues to change. The scope and scale of projected impacts mean that climate change will touch the professional and personal lives of many public health and health care professionals. Avoiding, preparing for, and effectively responding to the health risks of climate change will require broad engagement of scientists, decision-makers, and the public. Achieving this engagement means that increased scientific literacy is needed of the causes and implications of climate change for human health. There are growing numbers of assessments of the potential health impacts of climate change (1-4) and summaries for various audiences (5). Instead of summarizing current knowledge of the causes and consequences for human health of anthropogenic climate change, this paper will highlight a few issues that may help with understanding the human health impacts of climate change.

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Climate change and human health: Impacts, vulnerability and public health

Public Health ◽

10.1016/j.puhe.2006.01.002 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 120 (7) ◽

pp. 585-596 ◽

Cited By ~ 400

Author(s):

A. Haines ◽

R.S. Kovats ◽

D. Campbell-Lendrum ◽

C. Corvalan

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Climate Change ◽

Human Health ◽

Health Impacts ◽

Human Health Impacts

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The Health Impacts of Climate Change: Getting Started on a New Theme

Prehospital and Disaster Medicine ◽

10.1017/s1049023x00021269 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 23 (S2) ◽

pp. s60-s64 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Kristie L. Ebi ◽

Madeleen Helmer ◽

Jari Vainio

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Human Health ◽

Heat Waves ◽

Health Sector ◽

Climate Change Impacts ◽

Well Being ◽

Health Impacts ◽

Vector Borne Diseases ◽

Prediction And Prevention ◽

Impacts Of Climate Change

AbstractClimate change is widely acknowledged as a key global challenge for the 21st century, and is projected to significantly affect population health and human well-being. All of the climate change-related changes in weather patterns will affect human health, from boosting mental well-being to mortality from largescale disasters. Human health can be affected both directly and indirectly.For various reasons, the health sector has been slow in responding to the projected health impacts of climate change. To effectively prepare for and cope with climate change impacts, public health must move from a focus on surveillance and response to a greater emphasis on prediction and prevention.The targeted agenda program dialogue identified three priorities for climate change related health actions: heat waves, vector-borne diseases; and malnutrition.

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