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International experts in emergency medicine have warned that climate change is likely to have a severe impact on emergency services around the world. Yet, few countries have assessed the scale of the impact or made plans to address it.
During a special session of the European Congress of Emergency Medicine, Luis García Castrillo, now retired professor of emergency medicine at the Marqués de Valdesilla Hospital in Santander, Spain, said he and EUSEM’s Emergency Medicine Day Working Group I explained how my colleague asked the question. Focus groups comprised of emergency medicine, pre-hospital care and disaster medicine experts in 36 countries across 13 UN regions around the world will complete a survey on climate change awareness and preparedness.
The study will be published in the European Journal of Emergency Medicine.
“On a scale of 0 to 9, we rated the severity of the impact of climate change on health systems, particularly emergency medicine, now and in the future at an average of 7,” he said. “This figure is high because some regions, particularly Northern Europe, are thought to have less of a problem than other countries, such as Australia.
“The focus group considered that the impact of climate change on emergency medical services is equal to or greater than that on global health systems. Only 21% reported that their assessments were adequate.”Only 38% reported that some measures had been taken to prepare for the impacts of climate change.
“Of all focus group respondents, 62% said governments and policymakers have not assessed the impact of climate change on emergency services at all, 9% said they did not know, and 55% said they did not assess the impact of climate change on emergency services. 10% said they did not know about the impacts of climate change.
“The lack of awareness, not just in the emergency medicine community, but in so many countries, is astonishing. Some countries show no interest at all. But this is true in rich and poor countries alike. It will have an impact.”
Dr. Roberta Petrino, Director of Emergency Services at the Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale in Lugano, Switzerland, co-chaired the session “Climate change is also a health emergency” and is a co-author of the report.
He said: “One of the interesting findings is that the need to implement actions to mitigate climate change is considered important everywhere. In particular, in our survey, emergency medical services and The study demonstrated the need to strengthen educational programs for medical students and emergency physicians.
“Emergency medical professionals are extremely concerned about the impact of climate change on the care they provide. Our report shows that the specific issues vary by region and are related to geographic location. The results show that our colleagues feel that climate change is an important issue around the world, despite the different economic conditions and types of risks.
Researchers conducted focus groups of four to six members from February 15 to March 15, 2024 to national and international emergency medicine societies around the world to answer a series of questions. I asked them to install it.
Forty-two focus groups reported on public perceptions and concerns about climate change and ranked them in terms of severity. We will discuss the various threats, their potential impact on the emergency department, and finally, the measures needed to mitigate the problem.
Impact of climate change on the National Health Service and emergency medical services by a) country income (high income, upper middle income, lower middle income, low income) and b) WorldRiskIndex (very low risk, low risk) graph. c) Geographical distribution of risk (Australia (AUA), Western Europe (WEU), Eastern Europe (EEU), Southern Europe (SEU), Northern Europe (NEU), North Africa (NAF), Central Africa (CAF), South Asia (SA), East Asia (EA), Southeast Asia (SEA), West Asia (WA), North America (NA), and Central America (CA)). Credit: European Society of Emergency Medicine (EUSEM)
Across focus group responses, the top three major risks were pollution, flooding, and heatwaves. Three minor risks are cold weather, wildfires, and vector-borne diseases such as malaria. The biggest impact was expected to be an increase in demand for emergency medical services. Focus groups ranked strategic plan preparation and education as the two most important strategic actions.
Focus groups in high-income countries were most concerned about the risk of heat waves, cold waves and wildfires. They believed that the biggest impact would be an increase in patient numbers, and that education and preparing a strategic plan were the most important actions needed to reduce risk.
Countries in Northern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean were very concerned about population movements and disruption of basic services.
Focus groups in low- and middle-income countries ranked the impact of climate change on food production and disruption to health services as the most significant risks.
A regional analysis of the data showed that climate change is expected to have a greater impact on countries in Australia, Eastern Europe, South Asia, South Saharan Africa and Central America. It predicted countries such as Egypt and Nigeria would have the lowest impact, while the Southern Sahara Africa region expected the highest.
There were large regional differences in risks of vector-borne diseases, climate-related diseases, wildfires, extreme weather events, and food shortages. Australia, Central America and South Sahara Africa had the greatest concerns about these compared to the European region.
The focus groups’ concerns were also analyzed through WorldRiskIndex, a statistical model that assesses the risk of 193 countries becoming victims of extreme natural events and humanitarian disasters caused by climate change.
Countries are ranked from very low risk to very high risk. Increased demand for emergency medical services and fears of disruption to the supply and health service chain are directly related to the WorldRiskIndex, and as the risks increased, so did the concerns.
“Our findings make it clear that climate change is expected to have a significant impact on emergency medical services,” Dr. Petrino said. “We need greater awareness of this at national and international levels among policy makers, health workers, health professionals and the general public.
“The European Society of Emergency Medicine is calling on countries to plan to reduce the impact of climate change on our services. In addition to publishing our findings, the European Society of Emergency Medicine is calling for action. We will establish a standing working group to support, support and monitor” To reduce the impact of climate change on emergency medical services, we will also talk to key people and institutions to raise awareness.
“As we approach the end of a year that broke records for the hottest day on Earth, we cannot act fast enough. “The world is in a crisis, and our health services are in a crisis.”
Professor Garcia-Castrillo and Dr Petrino expressed their gratitude to the emergency medicine community and academic societies around the world for making the research possible.
Further information: “Survey findings on climate change awareness and preparedness”, session “EM Day Campaign 2024: Climate change is also a health emergency!”, 16:30 CET, indoors Luis García Castrillo Presented by Mr. D4-D5.
“Awareness and preparedness of health and emergency care systems for the challenges and threats of climate change: An international survey” by Roberta Petrino, Luis García-Castorillo, Graziano Uccedu, Leticia Meucci and Roberta Cordeca. To be published in the European Journal of Emergency Medicine.
Provided by the European Society of Emergency Medicine (EUSEM)
Source: Climate change is also a health emergency, warns experts (October 13, 2024) from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-10-climate-health-emergency-experts.html 2024 Retrieved October 13,
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