climate related health

Climate change and health has been given increasing attention during recent years, largely initiated and triggered by the insightful report by McMichael and colleagues published a decade ago. Until then research on, and analysis of, the impacts of climate change had focussed on environmental change and impacts on ecosystems.

Climate conditions in workplaces are occupational health hazards that need to be taken into account when assessing population vulnerability to climate conditions and climate changes. Very cold as well as very hot work environments can create thermal stress beyond what human physiology can cope with. All human populations have a normal core body temperature in the range 36–37 °C, and even a few degrees higher or lower body temperature, due to surrounding climate conditions, can lead to serious health effects.