WHO: Heat has killed more than 200,000 since 2022

TT

Published 22.08

 

Hans Kluge. Archive photo. Photo: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP/TT

More than 200,000 people in Europe have died as a result of heat since 2022, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Extreme heat particularly affects the elderly and children, as well as people with heart, kidney and other diseases by causing dehydration, heatstroke and exacerbating existing conditions, according to the WHO.

Most of the 200,000 deaths were "entirely preventable," says the organization's European director Hans Kluge.

- The consequences of climate change pose a clear and imminent threat, and its most immediate and deadly expression is extreme heat.

At the end of May, large parts of Western Europe were hit by a heat wave. Spanish authorities announced last week that this year has recorded the highest number of heat-related deaths for the month of May since 2015.