5 Ways Climate Is Impacting Health Care in 2024
The world has watched closely as climate change continuously wreaks havoc on the environment. However, it causes more damage than rising sea levels and hotter summers — it also significantly impacts health care and medical systems. Discover the relationship between the changing environment and health and how climate change is affecting health care in 2024.
Climate Change on Health
The effects of climate change are felt worldwide, exposing people and infrastructure to myriad environmental risks and hazards. From prolonged droughts and heat waves to food-, water- and vector-borne diseases, vulnerable populations face dire health implications.
The World Health Organization says 3.6 billion people reside in climate-susceptible regions, especially developing countries and small island states. Mortality rates from extreme weather are 15 times higher in these areas than in developed countries.
Scientists warn of unprecedented health effects as temperatures rise 1.5˚ Celcius in the coming decades. Already, heat-related chronic kidney disease is rampant among Central American field workers and is the second-leading cause of death in El Salvador and Nicaragua.
Warmer seasons have also created ideal conditions for pathogens to form and spread. For example, algal blooms in Naples, Florida, can cause respiratory problems in people with asthma, eye irritation, vomiting and diarrhea when exposed.
As climate change’s health effects worsen, more people will seek medical care for severe conditions. Unfortunately, this significantly strains health care services and increases social inequities among susceptible communities.
How Is Climate Change Affecting Health Care?
Although the world has shown widespread concern for planetary health, their worry is insufficient to mitigate current environmental impacts on public health. Here are five ways climate change is affecting health care.
1. Increased Burden of Climate-Related Disease
Infectious diseases are prevalent worldwide, from Ebola to dengue and the common cold. Climate change — usually warmer, wetter weather — exacerbates many of these conditions, causing far-reaching transmission and worsening symptoms.
Scientists have even partially attributed climate change to the spread of COVID-19 — which, at its height, infected 245,548,901 and killed 4,983,723 people as of October 2021. Air pollution mostly affects those with preexisting respiratory conditions, leaving them more vulnerable to adverse outcomes and hospitalizations from coronavirus. Although COVID-19 is no longer unchecked as it was before vaccines, its variants can still cause severe illness.
2. Disrupted Health Care Services
When hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires hit, access to essential health care services and treatment is cut off. Unfortunately, disrupted access to facilities and physicians, drug shortages, and disease emergences results in diagnostic errors, delayed detection and control of severe illness, and declining prognoses.
For instance, breast cancer patients exposed to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 had a 10-year lower survival rate than elsewhere since they were unable to resume chemotherapy and radiation immediately. Following Hurricane Ian in 2022, doctors at Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Venice, Florida, went from seeing 100 emergency room patients daily to 200–300 the week after, causing overflow in the triage. One of its biggest struggles was operating on 130–160 patients in a hospital with only 110 beds.
3. Higher Demand for Mental Health Care
Climate anxiety has reached new highs. A 2021 study of 10,000 children ages 16–25 found 84% were at least somewhat concerned about climate change. Over 50% said climate change elicited negative emotions, including sadness, anger, helplessness and guilt.
Climate-related disasters have also left many people with adverse mental health outcomes. For instance, a year following severe flooding in the United Kingdom, post-traumatic stress disorder among affected individuals was 30.36% compared to 7.4% of the general population.
Communities must grapple with illness, infrastructural damage and economic hardships after these events. Yet, only 50% of Americans got treatment for mental health despite having insurance coverage. For many, there is confusion about coverage and costs, which people may be unable to afford.
4. Food Insecurity
Even in a developed country like the U.S., citizens still face hunger. About 13% of households were food insecure in 2022 — a phenomenon likely to increase as climate change burdens food production and resources.
Food insecurity stems from fluctuating weather patterns, including crop-killing heat waves, droughts and heavy precipitation. In 2021, higher food costs implicated another 30 million food-insecure people across underdeveloped countries. Likewise, climate change also affects food quality, putting consumers at risk of foodborne illnesses.
5. Higher Health Care Costs
Overall, environmental changes will cause health care costs to skyrocket. Currently, air pollution generates $800 billion in health care expenditures in the U.S. annually. When climate-related weather events occur, infrastructural damages and lagging supply chains make treatments more expensive and complicate receiving care.
High health care expenses drive a deeper wedge in health inequity. Low-income households and marginalized communities become increasingly susceptible to allergens, respiratory conditions, infections, and water- and foodborne illnesses. Yet, they struggle to attain affordable health insurance and adequate patient care.
Climate Change Doesn’t Discriminate
The changing environment doesn’t care about your socioeconomic status or whether you live in a developed or underdeveloped nation. It’s affecting health care for everyone in 2024 and will continue for years. Mitigating anthropogenic effects on global warming is the world’s greatest opportunity for staying healthy and sustaining health care services.
