Human Health: Impacts, Adaptation, and Co-Benefits
This chapter examines what is known about the effects of climate change on human health and, briefly, the more direct impacts of climate-altering pollutants (CAPs; see Glossary) on health. We review diseases and other aspects of poor health that are sensitive to weather and climate. We examine the factors that influence the susceptibility of populations and individuals to ill health due to variations in weather and climate, and describe steps that may be taken to reduce the impacts of climate change on human health. The chapter also includes a section on health "co-benefits." Co-benefits are positive effects on human health that arise from interventions to reduce emissions of those CAPs that warm the planet or vice versa.