"Climate change threatens 50 years of progress in global health, study says", 22 June 2015

Climate change threatens to undermine half a century of progress in global health...But the analysis also concludes that the benefits to health resulting from slashing fossil fuel use are so large that tackling global warming also presents the greatest global opportunity to improve people’s health in the 21st century...[A new report from] the Lancet/UCL commission on health and climate change, a collaboration of dozens of experts from around the world, and backed by Margaret Chan, head of the UN World Health Organisation]...sets out the....risks to health, including heatwaves, floods and droughts...air pollution, spreading diseases, famines and mental ill-health. A rapid phase-out of coal from the global energy mix is among the commission’s top recommendations, given the millions of premature deaths from air pollution this would prevent...Deaths from air pollution are rising around the world...Food shortages may increase as climate change harms crops and livestock and the ability to work in hot climates...Such shortages can lead people to migrate as refugees, leading to further health problems, or even to conflicts. People forced to move, whether by food shortages, floods or extreme storms, can suffer serious mental health problems...The Guardian’s Keep it in the Ground campaign has been highlighting the impact of climate change on public health by focusing on the world’s two largest health charities – the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust. The campaign is asking them to move their investments out of fossil fuel companies.