The effects of climate change will kill close to 250,000 per year by the time 2030 arrives, according to the latest assessment by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The cause of these deaths is predicted to be malaria, diarrhoea, heat stress, and malnutrition, reports The Times of India.
A study conducted by the University of Oxford, published in the international medical journal Lancet, predicts that India will lose 130,000 people to climate change in 2050.
In the next 15 years, the predicted death toll due to various diseases is:
- Heat exposure: 38,000
- Diarrhoea: 48,000,
- Malaria: 60,000
- Childhood malnutrition: 95,000
At the same time, the annual average of deaths caused by air pollution is 7 million, most of which come from China and India.
India, which already witnesses a high number of deaths related to these diseases, may be an unfortunate contributor to the death toll, the WHO report says.
Thus, the UN agency has asked countries like India to increase the fund share to avoid health risks.
WHO has also announced a new working group which will define an approach to health economics and climate change.
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