The United Nations warned on Tuesday that El Niño poses a “significant” threat to global health as the planet prepares for a cycle of the climate phenomenon forecast to be the most intense on record. The warning came from the World Health Organization (WHO). El Niño is linked to the warming of surface waters in the Pacific Ocean and has been associated with higher temperatures, periods of extreme drought and widespread flooding. According to the UN, its influence is already being felt from Central America to Indonesia.
The World Health Organization estimates that periods of heavy rainfall can create favourable conditions both for cholera and for insects that carry diseases, particularly mosquitoes. This could lead to an increase in diseases such as malaria, chikungunya and dengue.
Teresa Zakaria, head of WHO's unit for risk reduction, humanitarian operations and climate change, warned that the most severe effects will occur when climate shocks intersect with weak health systems, limited access to care, food insecurity, displacement and humanitarian crisis. She described El Niño as a “significant public health threat” and a “risk multiplier”.
She urged countries to act immediately to mitigate the effects and prevent loss of life and suffering. “We have a window of opportunity to act now, before these risks become a crisis,” she told reporters in Geneva.
Earlier in September, the UN's World Meteorological Organization had warned that the current El Niño is forecast to be the strongest since comparable records began four decades ago, with knock-on effects on the climate continuing into 2027. Although El Niño is not caused by climate change, scientists expect it to amplify heat on a planet already warming because of human burning of fossil fuels, while also intensifying extreme weather events.
Armel Castellan, an extreme heat adviser to the joint WHO–WMO climate and health programme, noted that “every El Niño is different”. As he explained, “this El Niño, combined with temperatures that were already at record levels, is what makes it unique”.
WHO's message is that early action can reduce loss of life and suffering.
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