Cheat sheet: Three major ways that climate change impacts health

Accelerating changes in the natural world, including droughts, storms and floods, can have the following medical impacts on humans: 

• Disease is the largest factor: Cases of vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever are likely to increase because of warmer and wetter conditions. This month, a cholera outbreak in Zambia was linked to climate change. Growing air pollution also increases the risks of respiratory infections. In 2019, air pollution contributed to the death of 1.1 million people across the continent. 

• Additional medical impacts: Heat stress, malnutrition, blunt trauma and mental health issues can result directly from climate change. More than 29 million people are affected by a current drought in the Horn of Africa, resulting in major losses of livestock and water, creating malnutrition and stunting. 

• Indirect impact: Floods and other increasingly frequent natural disasters impair access to healthcare by destroying vital infrastructure including transport. In the Libyan coastal city of Derna, two dams overflowed during Storm Daniel in September 2023, killing 11,300 people and washing hospitals into the sea.