[Climate change and health]

Abstract

Despite the targets for greenhouse gas emissions agreed in Kyoto under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - again to be discussed in Copenhagen in December - climate change will still have serious effects on public health. The health effects of climate change will be noticeable also in the short run. Diseases which are transmitted by arthropod vectors will spread to more areas of the world than where they are present now. In addition, we will have to deal with allergies, deaths due to heat waves, diarrhoea and malnutrition. For this reason, every action is needed now in order to minimise the adverse effects on health.