Millions more people will be at risk from illnesses such as malaria and diarrhoea in a warming world beset by heatwaves and water shortages, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said today.
Climate experts say rising temperatures and heatwaves will increase the number of heat-related deaths, and that higher ozone levels from pollution will mean more people suffering from cardio-respiratory disease.
A warming world would also mean the spread of vector-borne and pathogenic diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and cholera.
Speaking at the climate talks in Bali, Maria Neira, the WHO's director for public health and the environment, said a one degree increase in temperature would lead to an 8 per cent increase in the incidence of diarrhoea.
"We are concerned about malnutrition related to lack of agricultural production, we are concerned about diarrhoea due to water scarcity and sanitation, and about seeing an increase in dengue and malaria and their appearance in areas where it was not present," Ms Neira said.
Climate change was expected to increase the proportion of the global population exposed to dengue, a disease carried by mosquitoes, by between 50 and 60 per cent.