Climate deal needed to combat health risks 

Source: United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009

Infectious diseases such as malaria and dengue fever will creep south to urban areas if climate change continues to go unchecked, doctors say.

Cases of heat stress will rise and increased incidence of floods, bushfires and other natural disasters will put even more pressure on the nation's health system, they say.

The Australian Medical Association (AMA), reiterating the need for a global agreement to be reached in Copenhagen, has appealed to negotiators to recognise the many risks climate change poses to health.

Equal weight should be given to equipping health systems to cope as given to talk on carbon emissions and targets, AMA federal president Andrew Pesce said.

"As climate changes, infectious diseases, such as malaria and dengue fever may well start affecting areas where it's not so much of an issue," he told reporters in Canberra.

"Fortunately at this stage (it doesn't) seem to have had too much effect ... (but) it's very important that we detect that."

In Victoria last year, 345 people died from excessive heat.

Such deaths are likely to rise across the country if nothing is done to address global warming, Dr Pesce said.

Climate change also is expected to alter rainfall distribution and the availability of water and prolong droughts, the association believes.

Back home, Dr Pesce said it was vital the federal government urgently implemented detection and monitoring systems to keep tabs on the potential health risks caused by climate change.

"We must definitely put in monitoring systems, so we can see what is happening."

Another positive step will be to work out a deal at the climate summit in Copenhagen.

"No country can deal with this on its own. But Australia must take its share of responsibility," Dr Pesce said.