Climate Change and Health in Pictures

Commit to save lives, cut carbon emissions and clean air

The true costs of fossil-fuel based economies are felt in our hospitals and in our lungs. This is because the same emissions that cause climate change are also largely responsible for the polluted air we all breathe in, causing heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and infections, affecting every single organ in our bodies.

Commit to invest in climate action, public health and sustainable development

“Mumbai, capital city of the Maharashtra province, is India’s biggest city. It also has some of the largest slums in the subcontinent, with large swaths of informal dwellings suffering from limited sanitation and high poverty rates. Recently, some of the streets were given a colorful makeover, which offered a stark contrast when large parts of the city were inundated by one of the worst floods the city had ever seen. The poorest neighborhoods suffer the most from these climate-induced extreme weather events, trapping them in a vicious circle of poverty and ill health.” Photographer Shanth Kumar, India

Place health at the heart of the Paris Agreement

Climate action is about people, their health and their future. By systematically including health in UN climate processes, national climate policies, as well as finance pledges, the Paris Agreement could become the strongest international health agreement of the century.

Implement and monitor national policies that protect the health of your citizens from climate change

“The Marathwada region in India was hit by the worst drought in 40 years, affecting nearly nine million farmers and their families. With taps and wells running dry, drinking water was brought in with tankers - 17 liters per person, once every 14 days.” Photographer: Shanth Kumar, India

Evaluate and promote the health co-benefits from climate action

Health benefits far outweigh the costs of transitioning to clean energy, and meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement could save about a million lives a year worldwide by 2050 through reductions in air pollution alone. Quantifying the health co-benefits from taking climate actions offers a strong argument when gathering support for the transformative changes needed. 

The pictures in this story are part of a WHO exhibition on climate change and health, launched at the COP25 UN climate conference in Madrid.

Pictures by (in order of appearance): Getty Images/Ravi Choudhary - WHO/Shanth Kumar - WHO/Marko Kokic - WHO/Shanth Kumar - DFID / Abbie Trayler-Smith