Global warming to ‘cause 250,000 extra deaths a year'

The study, published by the World Health Organisation (WHO), estimates around 48,000 will die from diarrhoea, 60,000 due to malaria, 95,000 from childhood undernutrition, as well as 38,000 elderly people because of heat exposure, euronews reports. "Our planet is losing its capacity to sustain human life in good health," said Dr Margaret Chan, director general of WHO. "Earlier this year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued its most disturbing report to date, with a strong focus on the consequences for health." The report said the health impacts of climate change would be "overwhelmingly negative" with the biggest changes expected by 2050. Dr Chan said: "Debates about climate change are still not giving sufficient attention to the profound effects that climate variables have on health. "Many of the world's most worrisome diseases have transmission cycles that are profoundly shaped by conditions of heat and humidity and patterns of rainfall. As one important example, malaria parasites and the mosquitoes that transmit them are highly sensitive to climate variability, which has been repeatedly linked to epidemics.