Human influences on the environment continue to grow. Many of the resulting risks are continuously generating disease and injuries, affecting quality of life, reducing productivity, and weighing on health systems.1 Contaminated water, food, and air remain major causes for suffering and death globally. Healthcare systems need to adapt to a future in which gradual warming and extreme weather events will increase the risks to human health.
Climate change is linked to a number of health-related risks, including injuries caused by storms or flooding, the spreading of insect-borne infectious diseases, and the worsening of chronic respiratory, cardiovascular, and kidney disease.2 In addition, extreme weather events, gradual warming, and changes in humidity indirectly affect human health by disrupting healthcare delivery and endangering food security. There is an opportunity for more countries to develop national climate adaptation plans with a health focus, and for both the public and private sector to invest more in health-related adaptation financing.3
The McKinsey Health Institute (MHI) is focused on better understanding the intersection of climate change mitigation and human health. Mitigation of further environmental and climate change will have to involve efforts to reduce the footprint of healthcare providers and healthcare industries around the world. At the same time, there is potential for synergy between the advancement of human health and climate change mitigation.
