| Resumen: |
Climate change is a risk multiplier that threatens to unravel decades of development gains. Among the
most critical and direct risks to humans is the impact of climate change on health. Heat stress will worsen as high temperatures become more common and water scarcity increases; malnutrition, articularly in children, could become more prevalent in some parts of the world where droughts are expected to become more frequent; and water- and vector-borne diseases are likely to expand in range as conditions favor mosquitoes, flies, and water-borne pathogens. Worse still, these threats will be greatest in regions where the population is most dense, most vulnerable, and least equipped to adapt, pushing more people in poverty and reinforcing a cycle of environmental degradation, poor health and slow development. Addressing these climate-associated health risks is critical. longside risk, there is opportunity. Responses to climate change have unearthed significant potential for improving both human health and the environment. Low carbon hospitals can draw upon the many advances made by the energy sector in developing cleaner and renewable resources. Pharmaceutical supply chains can benefit from more efficient and less polluting transport. And food and nutrition can be improved by the advances achieved through climate-smart agriculture. Climate change challenges are multi-sectoral and so too are the solutions. At the World Bank Group, we are tackling different dimensions of these environment and health threats in different ways. For example, the Pollution Management and Environmental Health Trust Fund addresses air pollution, toxic land pollution, and marine litter. Work on Climate-Smart Agriculture aims to sustainably increase food productivity and human well-being in a changing climate. We are putting in place a new operational framework for strengthening human, animal, and environmental health systems in response to disease threats. And within the health sector, we have made Universal Health Coverage core and increasingly considerate of climate change and resilience. |
