Heat-related deaths rose 55% in India during 2017-2021: Lancet report

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Heat-related deaths in India from climate change have increased by 55 percent during 2017-2021 from 2000-2004, according to an annual Lancet report.

The report for 2022 is called the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change: health at the mercy of fossil fuels.

According to the report, the various impacts of climate change on health are aggravating and are leading to an increased risk of food insecurity, infectious disease transmission, heat-related diseases, and deaths from exposure to air pollution.

No country is safe

“Persistent fossil fuel over-dependence is rapidly worsening climate change, leading to dangerous health impacts around the world. The data shows that no country is safe,” the report said.

The Lancet report comes ahead of the 27th UN Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Egypt from November 6 to 18.

The report analysed over 40 indicators across five key domains: climate change impacts, exposures, and vulnerability; adaptation, planning, and resilience for health; mitigation actions and health co-benefits; economics and finance; and public and political engagement.

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“On an average, from 2012-2021, each infant experienced an additional 0.9 heat-wave days per year while adults over 65 experienced an additional 3.7 per person, compared to 1986-2021,” the Lancet countdown India data said.

Crop seasons also affected

Highlighting that climate change is amplifying the health impacts of multiple crises in India, the report said that the growth season for maize has decreased by two percent, while rice and winter wheat have each decreased by one percent, compared to the 1981-2010 baseline.

“Our report this year reveals we are at a critical juncture. We see how climate change is driving severe health impacts all around the world. Persistent global fossil fuel dependence compounds these health harms amidst multiple global crises, keeping households vulnerable to volatile fossil fuel markets, and exposed to energy poverty, and dangerous levels of air pollution,” Dr Marina Romanello, Executive Director of the Lancet Countdown at the University College, London, said.

Indians lose 167.2 billion potential labour hours

The dependence on fossil fuels is compounding the health impacts of these crises, according to the report. It states that, in 2021, Indians lost 167.2 billion potential labour hours due to heat exposure, with income losses equivalent to about 5.4 percent of national GDP.

“From 1951-1960 to 2012-2021, the number of months suitable for dengue transmission by Aedes aegypti (the yellow fever mosquito that can spread dengue fever, chikungunya, Zika fever, Mayaro and yellow fever viruses) rose by 1.69 percent, reaching 5.6 months each year,” the report said.

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The Lancet report has said that during March-April 2022, India and Pakistan experienced a heat wave which was caused 30 times more likely by climate change.

The report states that improvements in air quality will help prevent deaths resulting from exposure to fossil fuel-derived particulate matters.

“In 2020, over 330,000 people died in India due to exposure to particulate matter from fossil fuel combustion,” the report added.

“The Lancet report rightly points out that heat stress is becoming a public health crisis in India, but sadly it is not being dealt as one, as of now,” said Avikal Somvanshi, senior programme manager, Air Pollution, at a Delhi-based think tank, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

“There are multiple heat emergency plans in the country now, but they are not enough. We need to develop and implement heat mitigation and resilience plans that will ensure that waste-heat generation in cities is minimised and waste heat generated is not trapped inside the city itself,” he added.

According to the report, India, in 2019, had a net negative carbon price, indicating that the government was effectively subsidising fossil fuels.

“India allocated a net $34 billion to this in 2019 alone, equivalent to 37.5 percent of the country’s national health spending that year,” the report said.

The seventh Lancet Countdown report represents the work of 99 experts from 51 institutions, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).