Fires are sweeping southern Europe in what is now one of the worst wildfire seasons in years. The situation has forced mass evacuations, damaged infrastructure and claimed lives.
Their toll on people's health and on healthcare systems is also rising across the region.
“These are not merely fire episodes affecting livelihoods and creating this immediate danger; it's a true health emergency”, Dorota Jarosinska, Programme Manager at the World Health Organization’s European Centre for Climate Change, Environment and Health, told Euronews Health.
She added that the impacts may continue long after the fire is out, and can be felt at considerable distance from where the wildfire took place.
“This smoke coming from wildfires may travel hundreds, if not thousands of kilometres, impairing air quality in places very distant from the fire itself, including urban areas that are heavily inhabited, affecting potentially many people,” Jarosinska added.
