As climate shocks raise food prices, erode diet quality, and deepen exposure to unsafe food, the urban poor reveal why One Health must also be a framework for food justice
Image Source: Getty Images
This essay is part of the series: World Health Day 2026: Standing with Science in an Age of Shared Risk
In an era defined by converging crises, climate change is no longer just an environmental concern—it is a systemic risk multiplier reshaping food systems, public health, and urban vulnerability. Nowhere is this more visible than among the urban poor, where the intersections of malnutrition, hunger, and food-borne illness are intensifying under climate stress. A One Health perspective, recognising the interdependence of human, animal, and environmental health, offers a critical lens for understanding and responding to these overlapping risks (Figure 1).
Figure 1: One Health Approach
Source: UNEP One Health
Climate change is already disrupting the foundations of global food security. Droughts, among the most immediate manifestations of a warming planet, now affect an estimated 55 million people annually, with their frequency projected to increase sharply by mid-century. Since 2000, the frequency of droughts has risen by nearly 30 percent, undermining agricultural productivity and depleting water resources essential for staple crops. For urban populations, particularly low-income households dependent on market purchases, climate shocks translate directly into reduced food availability and escalating prices.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FOA) estimates that nearly 14 percent of food produced globally is lost before reaching consumers, largely due to inadequate storage, transportation, and cold-chain infrastructure. In climate-stressed contexts, these losses are amplified, further constraining supply. The consequences are evident in price volatility: between 2020 and 2023, the FAO’s Food Price Index increased by over 40 percent, driven by a combination of climate-induced production shocks, pandemic-related disruptions, and geopolitical instability. In several regions of Africa and Asia, low-income urban households have reported food price increases of up to 50 percent following extreme weather events that disrupted logistics and supply chains
Globally, around 2.3 billion people now experience moderate or severe food insecurity, with urban poor populations disproportionately affected. In many low-income urban settings, a significant proportion of households face food insecurity, with children and pregnant women bearing the greatest nutritional risks.
These price pressures, in turn, reshape consumption patterns. As food becomes more expensive, dietary diversity declines, with households shifting towards low-cost, calorie-dense staples, often at the expense of fruits, vegetables, and protein-rich foods. This transition contributes to a dual burden of malnutrition—undernutrition alongside rising micronutrient deficiencies. Globally, around 2.3 billion people now experience moderate or severe food insecurity, with urban poor populations disproportionately affected. In many low-income urban settings, a significant proportion of households face food insecurity, with children and pregnant women bearing the greatest nutritional risks.
Beyond immediate dietary impacts, these challenges are further compounded by structural inequalities. According to the United Nations, roughly 9.2 percent of the global population lives on less than US$ 1.90 per day, limiting their capacity to absorb food price shocks or access health services. Urban informal settlements often lack robust social protection systems, clean water, and healthcare infrastructure, reducing resilience to both nutritional and infectious disease risks. In such contexts, climate change amplifies existing vulnerabilities, entrenching cycles of poverty, poor health, and limited opportunity.
A critical yet often underappreciated dimension of this crisis is the growing threat of food-borne diseases. Rising temperatures create favourable conditions for the proliferation of pathogens such as Salmonella and E. coli, increasing the likelihood of food contamination across food systems. The World Health Organization estimates that 600 million people fall ill each year due to contaminated food, resulting in approximately 420,000 deaths. Climate change is expected to intensify these risks, with evidence showing that rising temperatures and extreme weather events increase the occurrence of foodborne pathogens, particularly in low- and middle-income urban areas with limited food safety systems. For the urban poor, who often rely on informal food markets with minimal regulatory oversight, exposure to unsafe food becomes an everyday hazard. This reinforces the One Health linkage between environmental change, food systems, and human health outcomes.
Yield losses could reach up to 30 percent by 2050, amplifying pressures on food prices, farmer livelihoods, and nutritional outcomes, alongside emerging mental health stresses in agrarian communities.
While these dynamics are most acute in low-income urban settings, similar climate–food–health linkages are observed globally. Regional evidence highlights both the severity of climate risks and the potential for adaptive transformation, particularly in the Mediterranean basin, where warming trends are projected to intensify over the coming decades, exacerbating droughts, degrading soils, and constraining water availability. These impacts are already visible across Southern Europe, where increasing heat and drought are reducing water availability and undermining agricultural production, particularly in countries such as Spain and Italy. Yield losses could reach up to 30 percent by 2050, amplifying pressures on food prices, farmer livelihoods, and nutritional outcomes, alongside emerging mental health stresses in agrarian communities.
At the same time, the region demonstrates viable resilience pathways, with urban initiatives in Barcelona showing that integrated planning—linking decarbonisation, renewable energy, and green infrastructure—can generate co-benefits for environmental sustainability and public health, while the Mediterranean dietary model highlights how seasonal, locally sourced diets can reduce environmental footprints and improve health outcomes. Evidence from regions such as Cilento indicates that integrated bio-district approaches can strengthen social cohesion, improve quality of life, and promote healthier, locally grounded dietary patterns, while supporting environmentally sustainable farming systems that contribute to broader resilience.
Translating these insights into action requires a multi-pronged strategy that strengthens local food systems through agroecological practices, such as crop diversification, water conservation, and climate-resilient varieties, to stabilise production and reduce dependence on fragile global supply chains.
Translating these insights into action requires a multi-pronged strategy that strengthens local food systems through agroecological practices, such as crop diversification, water conservation, and climate-resilient varieties, to stabilise production and reduce dependence on fragile global supply chains. This must be complemented by investments in critical infrastructure, including cold storage and efficient transport, to minimise food loss and improve access to nutrient-rich foods. Equally important are targeted social protection measures to shield vulnerable populations from food price volatility and nutritional risks, alongside strengthened food safety systems through improved regulation, monitoring, and access to clean water to reduce the burden of food-borne diseases. Finally, integrating nutrition and health services within urban systems, including mobile clinics and community-based interventions, can further address the dual challenges of malnutrition and infectious disease.
Ultimately, addressing the intersection of climate change, food insecurity, and health requires moving beyond fragmented approaches. A One Health framework compels us to recognise that the people’s health is inseparable from the health of ecosystems and food systems. For the urban poor, this interconnectedness is not theoretical, but a lived reality. The pathways to resilience are evident: investing in sustainable food systems, strengthening public health infrastructure, and designing inclusive policies that prioritise the most vulnerable.
Shoba Suri is a Senior Fellow with the Health Initiative at the Observer Research Foundation.
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Dr. Shoba Suri is a Senior Fellow with ORFs Health Initiative. Shoba is a nutritionist with experience in community and clinical research. She has worked on nutrition, ...
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