Headlines -  Monitoring the Health Impacts of Climate Change

Climate observations currently show that the average annual temperature is rising at an unprecedented rate. Eleven of the twelve years in the 1995–2006 period rank among the twelve warmest years since 1850. Warming has been more pronounced over the past 50 years, with an increase of 0.13 degrees per decade [0.10–0.16°C] between 1956 and 2005. It is now widely accepted that this climate change will affect human health through various mechanisms. Several health risks and environmental events are commonly identified: the emergence or re-emergence of infectious diseases, an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme events, and profound changes to the environment.In a report published in January 2010, the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance sought to clarify the current state of knowledge for each risk, identify existing surveillance and early warning systems, and address the new questions raised by climate change as well as the needs for knowledge and surveillance. The latest Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin (BEH) complements this work in an exercise in forecasting that remains challenging.Regarding health surveillance, while it may not be necessary to create new surveillance systems to track the impacts of climate change, it will be necessary to ensure the sustainability and quality of existing systems and to consider certain adaptations, such as better integration of existing environmental and health surveillance systems, and greater interdisciplinarity: with climate, environmental, and social sciences to understand the role of behavior; with naturalists and veterinarians to observe the evolution of parasites and disease vectors; and with health professionals to identify and interpret unexpected signals.