Health Canada report | Climate change is already having an impact on health

Climate change is already having negative impacts on the health of Canadians and health risks will increase as warming continues, concludes a major report from Health Canada.

Powerful heat waves in British Columbia last summer caused many deaths, cited Peter Berry, co-author of the report and senior policy analyst at Health Canada’s Office of Climate Change and Innovation, in a exposed.

The health effects of air pollution in Canada “are expected to worsen in the future,” he said, unless air pollutant emissions are reduced.

The risks are “increasing,” but efforts to mitigate them “can help,” the researcher said.

Climate change is having an impact on infectious diseases in the country, with research showing that many of them are climate-sensitive.

“In fact, rapid warming favored the emergence of Lyme disease in Canada, causing a dramatic increase in human cases from 2009 to 2017 as it spread north,” Berry said.

The 872-page document released Wednesday aims to provide a comprehensive assessment of scientific knowledge to guide government decisions. It is the result of the work of more than 80 experts from across the country.

Similar evidence reviews were done in 2008 and 2014.

This is the first time, said co-author Rebekka Schnitter, that a study has been able to measure the effects of climate change on Canada’s health care systems, health infrastructure, operations, health financing, care health, public health programs, supply chains and the health workforce.

The impacts of climate change affect health networks across Canada and will increase in the absence of “solid adaptation measures”, mentioned the researcher.

“The catastrophic wildfires in British Columbia in 2017 led to the temporary closure of 19 health care facilities, the evacuation of 880 patients and the displacement of more than 700 health care workers,” she illustrated. .

The report focuses on the effects of climate change on Aboriginal people and states that their water and food supply, air quality, personal safety, mental health and well-being, culture and identity will be particularly affected.

“For example, the rapid onset of permafrost threatens the stability of buildings, roads and communities in northern Canada, which also affects transportation and access,” said Ms.^me Schnitter. This permafrost can also, as it thaws, release infectious diseases from frozen wildlife carcasses and heavy metals like mercury, which could threaten health.

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Efforts to prepare for climate change are “critical” and the risks can be reduced, say the authors, for example by putting in place heat alert and response systems.

A survey conducted as part of their work showed that authorities are taking steps to adapt to climate change, “but concrete actions such as developing new or improved policies and programs are often insufficient”, said supported M^me Schnitter.

One of the important findings of the research is that “adaptation is not enough” to protect against the risks posed by climate change.

It is also “necessary” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to protect health, insisted the researcher.

“Reducing greenhouse gas emissions across a wide range of sectors can deliver substantial and immediate benefits to the health of Canadians, for example, through improved air quality in support of lifestyles more active outdoors,” she said.

Some Canadians are “hardest hit” by climate change. The researchers therefore recommend keeping the needs of “racialized, marginalized and low-income” populations specifically in mind.

Reacting to the report, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, stressed that it demonstrates that “our scientific understanding of pollutants and their interaction in the real environment is constantly evolving and improving”.

He also believes that “the time has come to redouble our efforts” to increase the country’s resilience to climate change.

Note to readers: This is a corrected version of a dispatch transmitted on Wednesday. At 2^and para, be sure to read that Peter Berry is an analyst in the Office of Climate Change and Innovation at Health Canada.