India saw the second-highest number of heat-related deaths in the world among those over 65 years of age in 2018. At an estimated 31,000 deaths, India was right behind China which had an estimated 62,000 deaths, as per a new report.
Heat stress, heat strokes and their impact on existing cardiovascular and respiratory diseases claimed 296,000 lives of those over 65 years of age across the world in 2018, said the fifth edition of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change report published in The Lancet on December 3. This crisis was observed in both big and small economies indicating that wealth cannot shield countries from the health impacts of climate change.
The Lancet report termed its latest findings as “the most worrying outlook” observed since the inception of its Countdown series in 2016. It noted productivity losses equivalent to billions of working hours, increasing intensity of wildfires and droughts and rapid transmission of diseases such as dengue and…