High temperatures are putting hundreds of thousands of people's health and livelihoods at risk every year, reveals Researchers. According to a study published in the journal The Lancet, deaths related to heat and high temperature among older adults have increased nearly by 54 per cent between 2000 and 2018.
According to The Verge, the report was produced by more than 100 experts from academia, the World Health Organization (WHO), and other UN agencies.
The reports assert that drastic climate change is actively threatening lives now and will reshape life in future.
Health care providers already see themselves treating a climate crisis.
While covering a broad range of health threats from hunger to pollution, the reports also included fresh findings showing how numerous lives have been taken away due to climate change and heat.
The number of heat-related deaths globally in 2018 reached an alarming number of 296,000 - and that's just among people over the age of 65, who are among the most vulnerable to heat illness.
Countries recorded most deaths among older adults are China, India, Japan, and central Europe.
In the US, heat-related mortality has nearly doubled for this demographic over the past 20 years, reaching a record of 19,000 deaths in 2018.
People working outdoors are more vulnerable to heatwaves, the study said. Staying inside during a heatwave is often a healthier choice.
Globally, people worked around 302 billion hours less in 2019 because of scorching temperatures - 103 billion more hours than were lost in 2000, found researchers.
Rising temperatures have also triggered more wildfires, which poses another set of health threats.
Globally, the risk of people being exposed to a wildfire grew in a majority of the world's countries in recent years when compared to the period between 2001 and 2004.
The biggest risk in health was witnessed in the US, with a 19 per cent rise in daily exposures to wildfires, meaning more people are breathing soot and pollution from burning fire.
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"Heatwaves and other natural disasters were particularly dangerous this year, as emergency responders and health care systems struggled to handle the pandemic, "study co-author Jeremy Hess was quoted as saying to The Verge,
Experts fear that climate-related disasters could similarly overwhelm hospitals in the future.
Source: IANS