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Fossil fuels are destroying the lives of millions of people

A newly issued international report reveals that extreme climatic events have caused devastation on all continents of the world.. and have increased pressure on health services.. and that funding allocated to support healthy adaptation to the effects of climate change is still insufficient.

Last August, Sakina Bibi was living in her home in the Dadu district of Sindh province in Pakistan when severe floods hit her town. home trying to escape.

Sakina and her family participated in dozens of other families in a camp designated for the displaced in “Dado”, and did not know which of them should grieve the most? Her house sank and her life was destroyed, or is her due date approaching in the absence of health services destroyed by the floods and the absence of trained doctors? According to her interview with “For information”.

Sakinah is one of thousands of people affected by the health effects of the climate catastrophe in Pakistan, including Sharjeel Baloch, who lives in the Gilmagesi district of Balochistan; His house flooded after the area was hit by torrential rains that lasted for a week.

Shortly after the floods, diseases that the World Health Organization describes as “sensitive to climate change” spread, such as malaria and cholera. A week later, Shargil lost his eldest son, Ali, to malaria after he was unable to access medical services due to the collapse of health facilities. Last September, he lost his youngest son, Samiullah, also to malaria.

According to the United Nations, 1,700 people have died as a result of the devastating floods that have swept through a third of Pakistan, as of writing this report, and millions of people remain in dire need of humanitarian assistance, including 130,000 pregnant women.

And a new report published by “The Lancet Medical” magazine, on October 25, under the title “Health at the Mercy of Fossil Fuels,” found that extreme climatic events in 2022 wreaked havoc throughout the world and increased pressure on health services, and that funding allocated to support health adaptation with the effects of Climate change is still not enough.

The report was prepared by 99 researchers from 51 different institutions, including the World Health Organization and the World Meteorological Organization, led by University College London.

The report, which conducted an analysis in 103 countries, monitored that the vulnerability of agricultural crops to climate change affected supply chains, increased social and economic pressures, and was associated with an increase of 98 million additional food insecure people in 2020, compared to the years 1981-2010.

The report also found that heat-related deaths for people over 65 years of age increased by about 68% between 2017 and 2021 compared to the period 2000-2004, and it also detected the spread of infectious diseases such as malaria and dengue fever in some areas.

Dr. Marina Romanello, the main author of the report, said in an interview with “For Science” that they used many data to come up with the results of the report, some of which are from United Nations studies, some from research centers of universities, and many other institutions.

And she added that low-income countries had fewer capabilities to deal with the health effects of the climate change crisis, and therefore were the most vulnerable and vulnerable in facing it, yet the health effects included all countries of the world, as no one escaped.

She added: “Climate change affects health in different ways, the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, the emergence of climate-sensitive diseases, and it also affects mental health, so we need in the “Cop 27” conference to give priority to responding to the health crises that it produces. Climate change, the transition to renewable energy and stopping fossil fuel financing, directing support towards families suffering from the effects of climate change, and also support must be directed to the health sector in different countries, which is already suffering in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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