COVID and climate change, the red symbol of health

For the second year in a row, COVID-19 is a single-cause infectious disease that “has caused more deaths on the planet, in addition to aggravating the situation of other diseases”; But this pandemic “cannot make us ignore the other great challenge of our time, which is climate change and its impact on health.”

This is evidenced by the report “Health in Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Action 2021” prepared by the NGOs Doctors of the World and Medikosmondi, which also focus their attention on vaccines against the Covid virus and warn that the hoarding of one of the richest countries is revealing them. The international community has failed and we are far from adequate global health governance.

Just one piece of information: 241 million doses must be disposed of if not used before the end of 2021. Meanwhile, the Covax Initiative, which was set up to be able to distribute 2 billion doses in 92 low-income countries this year, has distributed just 330 million as of October, According to the source.

With regard to climate change, changes in the distribution of vectors that transmit diseases, such as malaria, dengue or Zika, will increase these diseases and more than 200 million people may have to move within their country for climatic reasons from here until 2050.

With this report, the above organizations open the debate about how we want tomorrow’s health to be, coordinated and global, or selfish and ineffective.

“Incredibly – they assert – health is gradually losing weight in the pool of international donors for development assistance (ODA)”.

He points out that more than ever, if health comes first, it is necessary to maintain this sector as a priority in international cooperation through adequate budgets, which place it at about 15% of total ODA.

Moreover, the remaining humanitarian crises continue to be complex and severe.

Conflicts remain the main source of needs, while natural disasters are on the rise. Putting the two together and adding covid, the result is an increased number of people who need help.

covid and climate change

The Covid-19 epidemic has affected all continents, although sub-Saharan Africa, which is most chronically affected by epidemics and infectious disease problems, is currently less severe, although it has suffered the consequences of the interruption. of almost all health programs.

Despite significant progress in controlling the epidemic in countries that have had access to universal vaccination, the epidemic is far from over.

The six countries with the highest number of deaths from SARS-CoV-2 are the United States, Brazil, India, Mexico, Russia and Peru. All, except for Peru, are among the ten countries with the largest population in the world, but it is worth noting that China, where the epidemic began, is not on this list.

In December 2020 there were 19.8 million cases and in September 2021 there were 15.4 million new cases in the world.

Although this reduction is significant and may be due primarily to vaccination against this disease, it also shows that much more needs to be done.

Sources cautioned that having so many new cases each month poses a risk to new strains that are more resistant to existing solutions.

But the text says that COVID-19 cannot make us ignore the other great challenge of our time: Health is clearly affected by climate change, something that may worsen in the coming years.

It has long been known that health problems are closely related to the environment in which you live, so in order for people in the present and future to be healthy, they must live on a healthy planet.

This interdependence between health and the environment also affects and is influenced by other areas, linking them to other sectors such as the economy, politics or social aspects.

If we do not act decisively, we conclude from the health organizations mentioned above, that climate change “will have severe consequences for the health of people, particularly in the most vulnerable regions that suffer the consequences the most”.