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A group of young people oppose the blockade order in Barcelona, Spain, on October 31 – Photo: REUTERS
A study published in the prestigious medical journal The lancet They have shown that all countries, from small island nations to great powers, face a growing threat to health, both in size and magnitude, as climate change causes pandemics. more will appear in the future.
According to the fifth annual report of the magazine The lancet On the health-climate link, factors such as intense heat, air pollution and dense agricultural activity have combined to create “an unprecedented worse public health outlook.”
The survey showed that over the past two decades, the number of climate deaths among the elderly increased by 54%. In 2018 alone, the heat claimed the lives of nearly 300,000 people.
While extreme weather events, such as tropical storms, remain a major problem for developing countries, extreme climates also cause serious medical damage in the region, the study authors said. rich countries.
The report said that in 2018, France alone had more than 8,000 climate deaths among those over 65, causing an economic loss equivalent to 1.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) for the same year. this country.
Ian Hamilton, lead author of the report, believes that threats to human health are multiplying and increasing due to climate change and in the future if the situation does not change, health systems will face the risk of overload.
Heat and drought have also significantly increased the number of fires. Since the early 2000s, the number of people injured, killed or displaced by fires has increased in 128 countries, according to the report.
Additionally, sea level rise due to climate change is exacerbated by uncontrolled fossil fuel emissions, agricultural activities and transportation, which could lead to 565 million people being evacuated by 2100, putting these people at risk for a number of health problems.
Furthermore, experts say that with more than 9 million people dying each year due to improper diets, the death rate from consuming too much red meat has also risen to 70% in just the last 30 years. In 2017, France had at least 13,000 deaths due to red meat consumption, out of a total of 90,000 people who died from a poor diet.
The authors warn that urbanization, increased agricultural activity, air travel and the use of fossil fuels could lead to the emergence of future pandemics such as COVID-19.
The research team calls for urgent actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in order to prevent the negative effects of climate change and limit the impact on public health.
Magazine editor The lancet Richard Horton emphasizes the need to take environmental factors that affect health seriously, as well as promoting weather warnings, protecting biodiversity, and strengthening natural systems that support people. .
The report was produced near the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement on climate change, in order to ask countries to help limit the increase in global temperature to less than 2 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-revolutionary period. industry, by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Although the lockdown and travel restrictions could reduce greenhouse gas emissions this year, there are still concerns that countries will increase the use of fossil fuels to jumpstart their economies. Translate.
Two girls take souvenir selfies in Hanam Park, Korea – Photo: REUTERS
Max Sprick felt death approaching. Six days after receiving a positive COVID-19 test result, the healthy 33-year-old man was reduced to a decomposing body.
“This feeling of tiredness that I have never experienced in my life. I have to breathe very hard to feel the flow of air in my lungs. The most terrible thing is that before sleeping, I fear not breathing enough (to live),” “he confided Max in the newspaper. SCMP From Hong Kong.
Future health is at stake
Before falling ill, the young man living in Munich (Germany) did not worry about the new virus. From the beginning, doctors said that the disease was only dangerous for the elderly, but he was young and healthy, and could run up to 80 miles per week.
Now the opposite is true, Max can’t even take a short walk without stopping to breathe. This is a great shock for an amateur athlete.
“I must admit that I underestimated the virus. Before I could run for miles, now every step is a challenge. I can’t go from my bedroom to the kitchen without having to sit down to rest. and breathe, “Max said.
Max is one of the more than 20 million people infected with COVID-19 in Europe. Many of the continent’s first infections were linked to a major outbreak in the Austrian ski town of Ischgl, where hundreds of tourists infected it and spread the virus when they returned home.
Ms Elisabeth Schmitten, a German book editor, is infected in the town of Tyrol, near Ischgl.
“On the fifth day of vacation, my sister felt like she had a cold. Except for the cough and runny nose, nothing more serious than that, so we weren’t worried. COVID-19 seemed very distant at the time. she remembers.
Elisabeth tested positive for COVID-10 when she returned to Germany and it took her 5 weeks to recover. Like many others, she is not sure where the virus came from and what her future health will be like.
“We suspected that we were infected in a ski bar, but we are not so sure. What worries me now is that even after 7 months, I still have difficulty breathing sometimes, my breathing has changed. I cannot play sports as well as before, ”he said.
If the pandemic could be controlled later, uncovering the medical secrets associated with the virus would be no less important than the invention of the vaccine.
In the German state of Bavaria, where Prime Minister Markus Soder is seen as a role model with the potential to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel, the lack of preparation shocked a citizen like Max.
“When my friend tested positive, he said he was going out with me, but it took the health officials four days to give me this information. I could have spread out in four days if he was not self-conscious at home.
During the spring lock, I followed all the instructions, I sat at home, not meeting anyone. But then summer comes, when the number of infections drops, the atmosphere is warm and sunny, I don’t care … Since I was infected, now I just try to warn people, “Max said.
Germans are advised to maintain social distance, but not to prohibit eating activities that take place – Photo: DPA
The years to come will be a new reality
From “allergic” to wearing masks like Asians, Europeans have now gradually accepted. They meet less in pubs, they look for drinks on YouTube, instead of going to work every day, now they work remotely through the Zoom application, companies reduce office rent …
Change is happening everywhere, in every generation, in every region of Europe and the world.
“Social norms have changed due to the pandemic, even shaking hands in a meeting has become impossible. I see that the distance between people and people becomes greater, we suspect each other and this. Nothing good, “he said. Elisabeth Schmitten shares.
For many others, the changes that 2020 will bring come at a high price.
In late March, when Pedro received a call from his father complaining that he was short of breath and had a fever, he rushed to take his car to his hometown in Barcelona, Spain.
45 minutes later, he saw his father for the last time in his life when medical personnel took the 76-year-old man to an ambulance in a protective suit.
He was diagnosed with COVID-19, inflammation of both lungs. Two weeks before Easter, six days after her son’s call, she passed away without the possibility of saying goodbye to her family.
“I often imagine dying alone in the hospital room, having no way of meeting my loved one.
The news and television do not help, all day the story is only infection, death, hospital collapse … The fear that before we only saw in a movie became a reality in 2020, all over the world, “said Pedro about the death of his father.
