If global climate change occurs as gradually as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted, policymakers can safely take several decades to plan a response, and scientists will have enough time to develop cost-effective anti-climate-change strategies Implementation of current proposals for mitigation measures-measures to stabilize the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere-would be both costly and ineffective Adaptational measures-measures to suit economies, healthcare systems, and living conditions to real-life, imminent, and foreseeable challenges to human health (for example, infectious diseases and weather disasters)should be the central component of any policy whose theme is the potential health impact of global climate change. […]