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Lifelong health damage caused by climate change outlined in report

Lifelong health damage caused by climate change outlined in report

A child born today is likely to see the earth warm four degrees by their 71st birthday, on current trends.

The lifelong health damage is set out in the Lancet's latest Climate change and health report.

Extreme weather events will increase, food security risks will rise, carriers of diseases will spread and the air will get dirtier.

Those are the effects climate change will have on the earth if we're to continue on our current path, according to The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change.

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It says children will be among the most to suffer from the rise in infectious diseases and crop failures.

Air quality will worsen, with the economic and health costs of it reaching 129 billion euro a year in Europe.

Dr Nick Watt, Executive Director of The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change outlines what weather changes we can expect.

"In Ireland and across Europe we are talking about floods and extreme storms," he said.

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"This has an effect in terms of direct injury and death but also some of the more slightly insidious effects - mental health impacts that come three months, six months after the flood, what happens to depression, to post-traumatic stress disorder, to anxiety disorders."

The report calls on communities to challenge international leaders to act on climate threat.

Among its recommendations, it says phasing-out coal-generated power and ensuring high-income countries meet financial climate commitments are key to turning the tide.

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