Extreme heat growing health issue; killed 356,000 people in 2019
Health News More than 356,000 people died in 2019 as a result of extreme heat and that number is likely to grow, according to a study published in The Lancet this week.
The Global Burden of Disease review, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, found while cold temperatures still cause a greater number of deaths, mortality rates attributable to heat are growing faster, particularly in hotter regions of the world.
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“This is very concerning, particularly given the risk of exposure to high temperatures appears to have been increasing steadily for decades,” said co-author Katrin Burkart from the University of Washington.
The findings echo another report, a two-part series called “Heat and Health” that was also published in The Lancet this week. It calls for global warming to be limited to 2.7 degrees F...Read more.