Extreme Weather Events and Their Health Impacts: International Variation

Climate change intensifies extreme weather events, and these events trigger cascading health impacts. Understanding the spatial variation of extreme weather events and their health impacts is critical for building tailored adaptation strategies. This review examines the trends in extreme weather events (including temperature extremes, floods, droughts, tropical cyclones, and wildfires), their linkages with climate change, the health impacts of these events, the global variations in the climate links and health impacts, and recommended adaptation policies. We found regional differences in observed trends and future projections in extreme weather events and discussed the associated uncertainty. Evidence on the global variations in health impacts is mixed and scarce, with differential hot spots identified by event type and by study. Adaptation policies should be designed and implemented in a holistic manner, including pre-event resilience building, during-event responses, and post-event recovery.