About the Course

In this course, Sir Andy Haines teaches about the impact of climate change and its implications for human health. This is an engaging and accessible course that gives the learner an insight into the key points of climate change and its global environmental impact, including what it will mean for the human population.

About the Author

Sir Andrew Haines

Professor of Environmental Change and Public Health

I am Professor of Environmental Change and Public Health with a joint appointment in the Dept of Public Health, Environments and Society and in the Dept of Population Health. I  was previously Director (originally Dean) of LSHTM for nearly 10 years up to October 2010, having previously been Professor of Primary Health Care at UCL between 1987-2000. I worked part-time as a general practitioner in North London for many years.Between 1993-6 I was on secondment as Director of Research & Development at the NHS Executive, North Thames and I was consultant epidemiologist at  the MRC Epidemiology and Medical Care Unit between 1980-7.  I have also worked internationally in Nepal, Jamaica, Canada and the USA.I have been a member of a number of major international and national committees including the MRC Global Health Group ( chair) and the MRC Strategy Group. I was formerly chair of the Universities UK Health and Social Care Policy Committee and a member of the WHO Advisory Committee on Health Research. In recent years my research focus has been on the effects of environmental change on health and the impact of policies to adapt to or mitigate these changes.  I was a member of Working Group 2 of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for the second and third assessment reports and review editor of the health chapter in the fifth assessment report. I chaired the Scientific Advisory Panel for the 2013 WHO World Health Report on Research for Universal Health Coverage. In 2014/2015 I chaired the Rockefeller Foundation/Lancet Commission on Planetary Health and I currently co-chair the development group for the Health Knowledge Action Network of Future Earth.   I sit on a number of other national and international committees.

Course Curriculum

  • 1

    The Impact of Climate Change on Health

    • Introduction

    • Human progress

    • Atmospheric carbon dioxide

    • Cumulative CO2 emissions

    • Short lived pollutant

    • HFC

    • The science confirming climate change

    • What are the possible climate futures?

    • Paris climate accord

    • The implications for human health

    • The impact of heat

    • The impact of heat on capacity to work

    • The impact of temperature on death rates

    • The urban heat island effect

    • The impact of drought

    • Conflict in climate change

    • Crop yields and climate change

    • Food composition

    • Rising sea levels

    • Saltwater intrusion

    • Dengue

    • Solutions within reach

    • The benefits of the low carbon economy

    • The phasing out of coal

    • Urban air pollution

    • Marginal benefits

    • Phasing out of fossil fuels

    • How to keep climate change below 2° C

    • The future of planetary health

    • Health benefits and future cities

    • Cities and transport innovations

    • Housing

    • Agriculture's impact on climate change

    • The impact of diet

    • Key mitigation instruments, policies and practices

    • The role of the healthcare sector

    • Government policy

    • Conclusion

    • How likely are you to recommend The Impact of Climate Change on Health Course to a friend or colleague?