Covid-19 has put it under our eyes: environment and health are closely linked. And by damaging the former we are actually doing ourselves a lot of harm: climate change causes 150,000 deaths every year. The leaps in species – the spillovers – at the base of new infections have almost tripled in 40 years and this has also happened due to our expansion, both physical and in terms of exploitation of the Earth. But viruses are not the only threat: there are other epidemics, such as antimicrobial resistance, cancer and obesity, also related to how we “use” the planet. Epidemiologists, virologists, pharmacists, representatives of institutions, companies and politics discussed it during the “Planetary Health and Antimicrobial-Resistance (AMR)” event, organized by The European House – Ambrosetti with the contribution of Pfizer and bioMérieux. Experts are united in explaining and showing, data in hand, the connection between the planet and health.
Environment and health in numbers
In 1,800 we were only one billion people, today we are 7.8 billion people and by 2050 we will probably reach 10 billion. Important numbers that remind us how our impact on the planet, in order to survive and develop, has been and is equally relevant. Climate change is already a reality: in addition to the tens of thousands of deaths for which they are responsible, they are also at the root of the spread of various diseases, including those transmitted by vectors and related to contaminated water. And again: about 40% of the world population does not have enough water and over 90% of people on Earth live in areas where the limits of pollution are above the maximum thresholds established by the World Health Organization (WHO). But politics, institutions and citizens can do a lot, both individually and collectively.
The “perfect storm”
“The state of health of individuals, both at the level of the individual and of the community, is closely linked to that of the planet”, underlines Paolo Vineis, Professor of Epidemiology at Imperial College London, where he specifically deals with climate change, and Vice President of the Superior Health Council. “Covid-19, together with the climate emergency, has helped bring to light the presence of multiple threats, from the increased risk of spillover to antimicrobial resistance, to the increase in diseases related to pollution and global warming. ‘approaching of a possible’ perfect storm of these elements, which could give rise to more frequent epidemics and other health problems “. This is why we must act immediately: the expert hopes that COP26 will be an opportunity to put health at the center of the debate. “Together with the Istituto Superiore di Sanità and other actors”, says Vineis, “we are working to implement a combined policy, the so-called co-benefits. There is talk of co-benefits because an intervention to defend the climate and environment also has important effects on our well-being and our health “.
Less meat
The main strategies of this policy, continues the expert, concern the immediate stop of deforestation and the use of coal for energy purposes, the change of agriculture with the reduction of intensive farming – according to recent reports, farms contribute to 12-14 % of global greenhouse gas emissions – the decline in meat consumption and the shift to greener and more sustainable transport. “For example, consuming less meat”, concludes Vineis, “especially red and processed meat, which increase the risks of various chronic diseases, lowers emissions and improves health. As well as decreasing urban pollution levels is a measure that defends against the risk of cancer, asthma and other respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, as well as reducing greenhouse gases “.
Don’t underestimate antimicrobial resistance
In this context, antimicrobial resistance has been – and for some time already – one of the main threats to global health, unfortunately entered the WHO top ten, and therefore requires urgent action. In general, this phenomenon occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no longer respond to the action of drugs, making the infection difficult to cure and promoting its greater spread. “Antimicrobial resistance is a silent epidemic,” he points out Gianni Rezza, Director General of Prevention at the Ministry of Health, present at the video-conference event, “which has lasted for several decades. He became aware of the problem, with concrete actions and a national plan, rather late, in 2017”. Since then there has been a lot of effort and some already positive results. “But we must avoid in all ways that antimicrobial resistance explodes and can become the next major epidemic”, he remarks Annamaria Parente, president of the Hygiene and Health Commission in the Senate, “given that it would represent a very serious health problem, in some respects perhaps even more than Covid-19″. We too often support the resistance with our behaviors. Examples include the abuse of antibiotics in intensive farming and our sometimes improper use of drugs, in particular antibiotics, even at the hospital level – with bacteria that last even years and years in hospital. Actions must be directed in this sense, from a change in agriculture and livestock, up, at the level of public health, to greater training of operators, plans and an increasingly structured organization, together with early surveillance.
Variants of the coronavirus, in the future we could predict possible mutations
by Daniele Banfi
.