Climate change is having devastating consequences for human health. A new report from MSF Canada and Heidelberg University Institute of Global Health describes how MSF humanitarian workers, patients and communities are experiencing and responding to a rapidly changing environment.

Drawing on interviews with 49 humanitarian staff in 30 countries around the world, the report ‘A hostile climate: Confronting the challenges of aid delivery in the context of climate change, details how rapid and slow onset climate hazards, changes in water availability and quality, and food scarcity linked to climate change are amplifying humanitarian needs.

It also describes how climate change is challenging the ability of humanitarians to effectively respond to communities in distress, both by creating additional logistical hurdles to humanitarian response such as damaged infrastructure and supply chain disruptions, and by creating conditions hazardous to mental and physical health.