(DDM) — A new global report by The Lancet Countdown 2025, released in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), has declared that the escalating climate crisis has become an urgent public health emergency.
Diaspora Digital Media (DDM) gathered that the report warns of severe and worsening impacts on global health, with millions of lives already being lost due to rising temperatures, food shortages, and extreme weather events.
According to the findings, heat-related deaths have surged by 23 percent since the 1990s, claiming more than 546,000 lives annually.
The report links the increase directly to longer, more intense heatwaves, especially across Africa, Asia, and South America, where access to healthcare and cooling systems remains limited.
Experts say droughts and wildfires are pushing millions of people into food insecurity, while economic losses from climate-induced disasters have reached trillions of dollars globally.
“Climate change is not just an environmental crisis; it’s a health crisis,” the report emphasized, noting that vulnerable populations such as children, the elderly, and low-income communities are the hardest hit.
However, The Lancet also highlights signs of progress, pointing to countries and cities taking bold action through cleaner energy, sustainable diets, and climate-resilient health systems.
The report reveals that switching to renewable energy and cutting fossil fuel pollution could save up to 10 million lives annually, by reducing exposure to air pollution and mitigating heat-related illnesses.
Health experts at WHO urged world leaders to “treat climate policies as health policies,” warning that continued delay will undermine decades of progress in global health and poverty reduction.
Dr. Maria Neira, WHO’s Director of Public Health and Environment, said: “Every fraction of a degree of warming means more deaths, more disease, and more displacement. The time for half measures is over.”
As the world prepares for COP30, set to hold in Brazil in 2025, the report calls for urgent climate action that places health equity, clean energy transition, and community resilience at the center of global commitments.
It recommends scaling up investment in public health infrastructure, renewable energy, and early warning systems to mitigate the human cost of climate disasters.
Environmental activists and medical associations across the globe have endorsed the report’s message, urging policymakers to frame climate action not only as an environmental imperative but also as a moral duty to save lives.
The Lancet Countdown 2025 concludes with a stark warning and a message of hope: “Our future depends on our choices today.
Every action, no matter how small, counts toward protecting the health of our planet and its people.”
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