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Climate Change and Global Child Health

Climate change threatens to reverse the gains in global child health and the reductions in global child mortality made over the past 25 years. There is broad recognition that greenhouse gases emitted by human activities are causing climate change.1,2 The problem of climate change transcends geopolitical boundaries and will have extensive impacts on child health and security (Fig 1).3 With implications for all of humanity, climate change will disproportionately affect children and the poor, magnifying existing disparities in social determinates of health.4,5



FIGURE 1 
Climate-related environmental health threats to children.



Changes in temperature and weather patterns are already occurring. Global surface temperatures were the highest ever recorded in 2016, and 9 of the past 10 years were the warmest on record.6 Dramatic changes to the climate are expected to occur within the life span of current pediatric patients. The 2013 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessed that global temperatures will likely rise 2°C and may increase 4.8°C by 2100 if current trends in emissions continue (Fig 2).2,7 In the same scenario, the average global sea level rise will accelerate, and seas will likely rise 45 to 82 cm by 2100, relative to 1986–2005 levels.2 Economic damage in the United States is predicted to be 1.2% of gross domestic product for every 1°C increase in temperature.8 Natural disasters will increase in frequency and intensity.2 These climate-related threats are widely considered the most significant global health challenge of our lifetime.9



FIGURE 2 
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projected range of temperature increases by 2100 under high-emission and low-emission scenarios. The … 



Address correspondence to Kevin Chan, MD, MPH, Department of Pediatrics, Memorial University, Room 2J141, 300 Prince Philip Dr, St John’s, NL A1B 3V6, Canada. E-mail: kevin.chan{at}easternhealth.ca