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Table
Indicator name:
Climate change attributable mortality and burden of disease
Short name:
MBD CC
Data type:
Rate
Indicator Id:
2391
Topic:
Mortality and burden of disease
Risk factors
Rationale:
As part of a broader project to assess major risk factors to health, the burden of disease resulting from climate change was assessed. Measuring the health effects from climate change can only be very approximate. Nevertheless, a assessment coordinated by WHO, taking into account only a subset of the possible health impacts, concluded that the modest climate change that has occurred since the 1970s was already causing over 140 000 excess deaths annually by the year 2004.  
Definition:
The burden of disease attributable to climate change can be expressed as :     Number of deaths     Death rate     Number of DALYs     DALYs rate Disability -Adusted Life Years (or DALYs)  are a summary measure of population health that combine (i) the years of life lost as a result of premature death and (ii) the years lived  with a disease. Death and DALY rates are calculated by dividing the number of deaths, resp. DALYs, by the total population (or indicated if not, e.g. if a specific population group such as children under 5 years, is used). Evidence from epidemiological studies have shown that climate change is linked with a range of conditions. Taking into account only a subset of the possible health impacts,  evidence for the following climate-sensitive health outcomes have been assessed on sufficiently strong basis for inclusion in the burden of disease estimates: Diarrhoeal diseases; Malaria Unintentional Injuries and deaths related to flooding Malnutrition
Disaggregation:
Age : <5
M&E Framework:
Impact
Method of estimation:
Burden of disease is calculated by first combining information on the increased (or relative) risk of a disease resulting from exposure, with information on how widespread the exposure is in the population (in this case,  the percentage of people exposed to climate change). This allows calculation of the 'population attributable fraction' (PAF), which is the fraction of disease seen in a given population that can be attributed  to the exposure, in this case climate change. Applying this fraction to the total burden of disease (e.g. malaria expressed as deaths or DALYs), gives the total number of deaths or DALYs that results from climate change.  
Method of estimation of global and regional aggregates:
For deaths and DALYs, national figures are summed. For death and DALY rates, the country deaths, resp. DALYs, are summed according to the region of interest, and divided by the corresponding regional population.
Preferred data sources:
Civil registration with complete coverage and medical certification of cause of death
Contact person email:
bonjourso@who.int
Name:
Sophie Bonjour
Indicator Metadata Registry List
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