Public Health Association of South Africa

The Lancet has declared that the changing climate and its impact on health is the most serious health threat of the 21st century. By placing health on the climate change agenda, we, as public health professionals, have the opportunity of focusing the climate challenge on human impacts as compared to the other broader environmental impacts that have dominated the agenda to date. According to the best available science, the impact of climate on the global population is likely to develop to catastrophic proportions over the next 4-5 decades. Addressing risks that our children and their children will face can no longer be left to the politicians or international agencies. If we are to address global population health, it must become the task of health professionals to provide the lead.