Published annually, the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change is an international, multidisciplinary collaboration, dedicated to monitoring the evolving health profile of climate change, and providing an independent assessment of the delivery of commitments made by governments worldwide under the Paris Agreement. All content on this page is either Open Access or has been made free to read with registration.

The Lancet Countdown: tracking progress on health and climate change was established to provide an independent, global monitoring system dedicated to tracking the health dimensions of the impacts of, and the response to, climate change.

The 41 indicators of the 2019 report span five domains: climate change impacts, exposures, and vulnerability; adaptation planning and resilience for health; mitigation actions and their health co-benefits; economics and finance; and public and political engagement

Indicator 1.2.2: flood and drought—headline finding: extremes of precipitation, resulting in flood and drought, have impacted human health and wellbeing, with South American and South-East Asian populations experiencing long-term increases in both of these natural disasters
This indicator tracks exposure to extremes of precipitation, using weather and population data presented in previous reports (appendix pp 8–9).

Analysis across time and space reveals regional trends for drought and extreme heavy rain that are more significant than global trends, reflecting the varying nature of climate change depending on the geographical region.
Floods are particularly problematic for health, resulting in direct injuries and death, the spread of vector-borne and water-borne diseases, and mental health sequelae.47
The average number of extreme rainfall events in the 2000–18 period reveals that South America and South-East Asia are experiencing the largest increases

Vulnerable populations were exposed to an additional 475 million heatwave events globally in 2019, which was, in turn, reflected in excess morbidity and mortality (indicator 1.1.2). During the past 20 years, there has been a 53·7% increase in heat-related mortality in people older than 65 years, reaching a total of 296 000 deaths in 2018 (indicator 1.1.3). The high cost in terms of human lives and suffering is associated with effects on economic output, with 302 billion h of potential labour capacity lost in 2019 (indicator 1.1.4). India and Indonesia were among the worst affected countries, seeing losses of potential labour capacity equivalent to 4–6% of their annual gross domestic product (indicator 4.1.3). In Europe in 2018, the monetised cost of heat-related mortality was equivalent to 1·2% of regional gross national income, or the average income of 11 million European citizens (indicator 4.1.2).

The focus is on:
*Health and climate change: policy responses to protect public health
*Human health: impacts, adaptation, and co-benefits.
*Better growth, better climate: the new climate economy report. The synthesis report
*Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch: report of The Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on planetary health.
*The Lancet Countdown: tracking progress on health and climate change.
*Managing vulnerability to drought and enhancing livelihood resilience in sub-Saharan Africa: technological, institutional and policy options.
*Understanding: the drought phenomenon: the role of definitions

Prolonged drought remains one of the most dangerous environmental determinants of premature mortality, resulting in reduced crop yields, food insecurity, an malnutrition (which in turn leads to life-long stunting, wasting, and eventually death when experienced by young children).3 The spread of water-borne disease, reduced availability of potable water, and migration as a result of reductions in arable and habitable land often compound to further wear away at the resilient capacity of populations.