The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 13 million deaths around the world each year are due to avoidable environmental causes. Environmental risk factors, including pollution, chemical exposures and climate change, contribute to more than 100 diseases and injuries that could be mitigated through climate-friendly policies and investments.

Climate change causes rising temperatures and more frequent floods which increase deaths directly and extend the spread of mosquito-borne diseases like Dengue, risking the health of billions of people not previously affected. Burning fossil fuels (oil, coal, natural gas) creates air pollution, which kills 13 people every minute and contributes to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, heart diseases, stroke and chronic respiratory disease, which amount to almost two-thirds of the total deaths caused by unhealthy environments. Almost 1 million people die each year from diarrhoeal disease caused by polluted water and poor sanitation.

As well as these more generalised health threats, climate change has specific effects on the health of women and girls, as research by MARCH members demonstrates. Climate disasters, uncertain conditions, and environmentally stressed livelihoods can lead to a rise in gender-based violence and violence against children as a result of increased individual stress, insecure living conditions and child separation. Extreme heat can worsen maternal, neonatal and birth outcomes, increasing the risk of hypertension disorders, gestational diabetes and antenatal haemorrhage resulting from increased heat stress on the body during pregnancy. Climate disasters and climate-induced migration interrupts access to sexual and reproductive health services, including contraception. Eco-anxiety, the chronic fear of environmental doom, is known to be rising, especially among young people, as the Art of Health Breath In competition run by the Zimbabwe LSHTM Research Partnership highlighted.

The WHO has publicly stated that “The climate crisis is also a health crisis” and affects all of us throughout our life course. No one can ignore the need to act now in the interests of both our human health and the health of our planet.

The 26^th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow last November saw the largest number of health practitioners, researchers, and advocates participating than at any previous Conference of Parties. The WHO Pavilion hosted many speakers, including MARCH member Dr Robert Hughes and myself, who spoke about the impact of the climate crisis on health, including women’s health. For the first time at a United Nations Climate Change Conference, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) held a side event, explicitly highlighting the impact of climate change on women and girls.

Although these issues were excluded from the Glasgow Climate Pact, which was focused primarily on government commitments to reducing carbon emissions, the presence of so many speakers highlighting the impact of climate change on health - and women’s and girl’s health in particular - was important for influencing wider negotiations and public discourse around more comprehensive policies that include health outcomes. MARCH researchers, with their partners and many others globally, are taking up the challenge to provide more and better evidence on the impacts of the climate crisis on women and girls globally and how health systems and local communities can respond effectively, in the hope that future climate negotiations will prioritise these issues.

Climate scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a final warning in their latest report that it is “now or never” to step up action on global warming and avert climate disaster.

However, to protect women's and girls' health in future generations, urgent action is needed now from all of us in our daily lives.

Everyday actions collectively make a big difference: how you get to work, what you buy and what you eat are all opportunities for positive change to protect our health and the health of our planet.

The World Health Day campaign toolkit offers numerous ways to take action and inspire others for a healthier tomorrow, including:

• Getting to work: increase the number of days you use a bike, public transport or your feet. These greener choices protect the planet and walking, running and cycling are all good forms of exercise that keep your heart and mind healthy.
• Saving energy: turn off the lights, computers and phone chargers when not needed; turn your heating down and wear more clothes; switch to a renewable energy provider. This will help protect the planet and could also help to reduce your energy bill.
• Nutrition: buy local; avoid highly processed foods; reduce meat consumption (especially beef); avoid products containing unsustainable palm oil/nut products. Many adult health issues have their roots in behaviours developed in childhood and adolescence. Eating well as a parent can encourage healthy behaviours in your children, reducing the impacts of poor nutrition on development, such as increased infection risk, low immunity and poor brain development, and build positive shopping habits for later life.
• Consumption: buy less plastic; use reusable/recyclable shopping bags, cut down on the amount of clothing you buy.
• Lifestyle: Quit smoking – it’s good for your health and the health of your children and those around you, but also reduces toxins in the air and reduces the number of trees being chopped down each year to grow tobacco (currently 6 million!)

My young children are leading by example – my daughter has written to her local MP and to Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, about reducing plastic production, banning all single-use plastics, and increasing climate-friendly transport options. My son has forbidden us to buy food containing palm oil derivatives (harder than you think!), unless they are certified “sustainable”, as this is a major contributor to rainforest loss.

Together, we can “reimagine our health, our society and our economy” and keep our planet and our people happy and healthy. Find out what other MARCH members are doing for a #HealthierTomorrow below and get inspired!