American Medical Association says climate change is a public health crisis

The American Medical Association (AMA) has declared climate change a public health crisis. The policy was adopted during the AMA's annual meeting of its House of Delegates and it is based on the consensus that the wide range of negative health effects of climate change, such as vector-borne diseases or heat-related injuries, warrant greater focus on climate change as a cause of negative public health outcomes. The AMA also argues that these effects are asymmetric across the developed and developing world in that they will affect populations in less developed countries disproportionately. According to the statement from AMA: "The policies adopted today build upon AMA’s existing policy and efforts to promote environmental sustainability and efforts to halt the global climate crisis, including policy to help physicians in adopting environmentally sustainable programs in their practices and sharing these concepts with their patients and communities.”