HIBAPRESS-RABAT-WHO
The WHO has just highlighted on alert that more than 175,000 people die from the effects of heat each year in Europe, with a mortality rate of 1.5%.
The UN body noted that the WHO European region, which extends into Central Asia, is the fastest warming region, at a rate about twice the global average.
In the region and its 53 member states, populations are paying a high price, deplored the regional director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Hans Kluge, quoted by the UN press service.
The three warmest years on record in the region have all occurred since 2020, and the ten warmest years have all occurred since 2007.
In some parts of the world, the climate crisis is already pushing temperatures to unbearable levels.
Over the past 20 years, heat-related mortality has increased by 30%, according to the International Organization.
Of the 489,000 heat-related deaths recorded each year by the WHO between 2000 and 2019, the European continent “represents 36% (of these victims), or an average of 176,040 deaths per year” over this period.
