What prompted the outbreak? Recent high temperatures in the region, which have touched 35°C, have started melting the permafrost, exposing the carcass of an already-infected reindeer, which

scientists say had remained frozen for over 75 years. The anthrax outbreak is another rude reminder of how climate change is increasingly impacting our health and lives, a correlation that

has largely been overlooked in the global climate change talks. Picture this: For the first 21 years of the annual Conferences of Parties (CoPs) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate

Change (UNFCCC), health failed to feature in a big way. But the narrative is slowly changing. The message from the recently concluded Second Global Conference on Health and Climate in Paris

in major multilateral fora to integrate health in climate talks. For example, a major effort is being made to include the health agenda in Habitat III, a UN Conference on Housing and

Sustainable Urban Development, which will take place in Ecuador during October 17–20, 2016. Somewhat fittingly, both the current CoP president from France and the next CoP president from

Morocco sharply highlighted the urgent need to incorporate health concerns within the climate change negotiations at the July meeting. “Health and climate are inextricably linked because

human health depends directly on the health of the planet,” said Segolene Royal, French environment and energy minister, and current CoP president during the conference. Her words were

echoed by the UN climate forum’s interim head Richard Kinley. “The health sector has been underrepresented in this discussion when you think about the millions of lives that will be

affected, and even ended,” he said. MEASURES ONLY EMISSION-CENTRIC Climate talks so far have focused on long-term projections of how the planet is likely to react to high levels of

emissions. As a result, mitigation measures are centred on the cutting of emissions to limit their impacts. Health has featured, at most, as an additional concern covered by one of the

numerous “side-events” that occur in conjunction with every round of climate negotiations. Practically though, there are probably few impacts of climate change that are as immediate as its

impact on health. “The climate agenda often gets narrowly defined as only a development agenda and diverts attention from quality of life to a limited view of standard of living. But this is

about larger well being and welfare around public health and food security. This demands leveraging of resources for climate mitigation to also strengthen adaptation strategies with health

as the central focus,” says Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy of non-profit Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi. The most apparent increase of the

health burden due to climate change comes directly through extreme weather events. Currently, the earth is about 0.85°C warmer than what it was in 1880, before the proliferation of the most

emission-intensive industries in the world, which have resulted in climate change. Many believe the additional warming has created havoc in several planetary processes including climatic

flows and weather patterns. As the mercury continues to climb, the increase in global incidence of floods, droughts, storms and heat waves has become clearer (see cover story). The European

heat waves of 2003 and 2010 are prime examples of climate change related extreme events. The heat waves are reported to have caused tens of thousands of deaths across Europe and Russia. In

India, heat waves, droughts and extreme precipitation events have all been observed to have increased both in frequency and intensity. According to the Climate Vulnerability Monitor 2012,

the estimated annual costs in China and India would be around US $450 million by 2030 due to environmental occupational risks (see ‘Disease trigger’). While the health burden through weather

might be the most obvious, potentially much more harming are the indirect effects. Protracted and frequent droughts, especially in Africa and Asia, have put a considerable burden on the

agricultural output in several regions across both continents. The implications could be gigantic in terms of food security, nutrition and water availability as droughts become increasingly

frequent. Another big concern is the additional burden of diseases and ailments. Changes in land-use, temperature, water distribution and precipitation are linked to the spread of malaria to

newer areas. Similarly, incidence of dengue fever has been increasing with nearly 400 million infections currently being recorded globally each year.