International emergency medicine experts have warned that climate change is more likely to have a serious impact on emergency services world wide. Yet few countries have estimated the extent of the impact or developed a plan to handle it.
In a special session on the European Emergency Medicine Congress today (Sunday), Luis Garcia Castrillo, now retired professor of emergency medicine on the Marqués de Valdecilla Hospital in Santander, Spain, described how he and his colleagues from the EUSEM Emergency Medicine Day group had 42 focus groups , consisting of experts in emergency medicine, prehospital care and disaster medicine, asked in 36 countries in 13 UN regions world wide to conduct a survey on climate change awareness and preparedness. The research shall be published in .
On a scale of 0 to 9, they rated the severity of the impact of climate change on health systems, and particularly on emergency care, each now and in the longer term, with a median of seven. It is a high rating, especially for some regional countries equivalent to Northern Europe that consider it less of an issue than other countries like Australia.
Luis Garcia Castrillo, retired professor of emergency medicine, Marqués de Valdecilla Hospital
He added: “The main target groups assumed that the impact of climate change on emergency medical care could be similar and even greater than on global health systems. Nonetheless, only 21% of focus group members reported that assessments of the impacts of climate change on emergency medical services had been conducted and only 38% reported that measures had been taken to arrange for the impacts of climate change.
“Of all focus group respondents, 62% said their governments or policymakers had not assessed the impact of climate change on emergency services, 9% said they didn’t know and 55% said nothing had been done to arrange for it effects of climate change, and 10% didn’t know.
“It’s surprising that there’s a lack of information in so many countries, including emergency medicine societies. Some countries are not apprehensive in any respect. Nonetheless, this may affect each wealthy and poor countries.”
Dr. Roberta Petrino, Director of the Emergency Department at Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale, Lugano, Switzerland, co-chaired the session “Climate change can be a health emergency” and co-authored the report.
She said: “An interesting finding is that the necessity to implement measures to mitigate climate change is seen as vital across the board. Specifically, our survey showed the necessity to strengthen emergency medicine services and academic programs for medical students and emergency medicine residents.” Research.
“Emergency medicine professionals are very concerned in regards to the impact of climate change on the care they supply. Our report shows that colleagues feel it’s a crucial issue world wide, although specific issues vary from region to region and these are related to the geographical economic situation and the character of the risks.”
Between February 15 and March 15, 2024, researchers asked national and international emergency medicine associations world wide to establish focus groups with 4 to 6 members to reply a series of questions. The 42 focus groups reported on general awareness and concern about climate change after which ranked them by the severity of various threats, the potential impact on the emergency department, and at last the actions needed to mitigate the issues.
Across all focus group responses, the highest three risks were pollution, floods and heatwaves. Three smaller risks were cold spells, forest fires and vector-borne diseases equivalent to malaria. The largest impact was expected to be a rise in demand for emergency medical services. The main target groups ranked strategic plan creation and education as the highest two strategic actions.
Focus groups from high-income countries were most concerned in regards to the risks of heatwaves, cold spells and wildfires. They expected that the best impact could be increased patient numbers and believed that education and the event of strategic plans were crucial measures to mitigate the risks. Countries in Northern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean were very concerned about population displacement and disruption to basic services.
Focus groups from low- and middle-income countries ranked climate change impacts on food production and disruptions to health care as the highest risks.
Evaluation of the info by region found that climate change is more likely to have a greater impact in Australasia, in addition to countries in Eastern Europe, South Asia, South Saharan Africa and Central America. Countries equivalent to Egypt and Nigeria expected the bottom impacts, while African regions in South Sahara expected the best. There have been significant differences between regions within the risks of vector-borne diseases, climate-related diseases, wildfires, extreme weather events and food shortages. Australasia, Central America and South Saharan Africa had the best concerns in comparison with European regions.
Focus group concerns were also analyzed using the WorldRiskIndex, a statistical model that assesses the chance of 193 countries falling victim to humanitarian disasters brought on by extreme natural events and climate change. Countries are classified from very low risk to very high risk. Fears of increased demand for emergency medical services and disruption to the provision and health care chain were directly related to the WorldRiskIndex, with fears increasing as risk increased.
“It is evident from our results that climate change is more likely to have a big impact on emergency medical care,” said Dr. Petrino. “Much greater awareness of this is required at national and international levels amongst policymakers, health care providers, health professionals and most of the people.”
“The European Society of Emergency Medicine is looking on nations to place plans in place to mitigate the impact of climate change on our services. Along with publishing our findings, the Society will establish a everlasting working group to support, assist and monitor measures to mitigate the impact of climate change on emergency medical care. We may even speak to key people and institutions to lift awareness.
“As we approach the top of a yr that has seen records broken for the most popular days on Earth, motion can’t be fast enough. Climate change impacts all countries, wealthy and poor, no matter nation-state. The world is facing a climate change emergency, and our medical services are also facing an emergency.”
Prof. Garcia-Castrillo and Dr. Petrino thanked the emergency medicine community and societies worldwide for making the survey possible.
