Climate Change and Health: Framing the Issue

Scientific reports increasingly suggest that the changing climate may pose certain health-related problems for society. These reports also point to the complexity of the relationship between climate change and health, as well as to significant gaps in current knowledge.

Clearly, business and society at large need to debate these looming health issues more deeply. To help frame the discussion, Oxford University’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, GlaxoSmithKline and Accenture examined more than 200 articles and papers to understand the current literature and science on climate change and health. Accenture also conducted interviews with more than 20 leading experts from business, academia and non-governmental organizations.

Changes in temperature may bring some marginal improvements to health, such as the contraction of malarial zones in parts of Africa and fewer cold weather deaths in temperate regions such as the United Kingdom. However, the overall impact of climate change on health will be negative.

Some say that climate change is the biggest global health threat of the 21st century. Extreme weather and heat waves will have a direct effect, while growing difficulty in accessing sufficient clean water, food and sanitation in other regions will add to the health burden.

Debate on the issue of climate change and health has been limited to date, and is clouded by uncertainty and significant knowledge gaps. The current evidence base does not accurately predict the scale of the impacts, but it does point to the fact that the effects of climate change on health are likely to increase, particularly as regards six existing health concerns:

• Health effects of extreme weather events
• Cardio-respiratory diseases
• Temperature-related health effects
• Malnutrition
• Vector-borne diseases
• Waterborne diseases

However, there is much we still do not know, including the timing, severity and geographical range of the health impacts of climate change. Our ability to model the changes needs to be improved, and there is a need for ongoing research to understand better the relationship between climate and health, the influence of modulating factors and profiles of vulnerable individuals and populations.

The impact of climate change on health may alter the pharmaceutical industry in the long term, but is less likely to dramatically alter business or operating models in the immediate future. Policy responses will have to be formulated under conditions of uncertainty.

Companies within the industry will need to understand the issues involved and be prepared to respond and adapt to changing demands. Through planning for the longer term–engaging stakeholders, building resilience, driving science and innovation–the industry can integrate climate change and health into future strategies.

GlaxoSmithKline, Accenture and the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford welcome partnership on this issue, particularly to examine the knowledge gaps and begin to answer some of the questions that remain. Most importantly, we invite stakeholders to work with us to use this as a starting point for action and collaboration.