Scientists warn of 17 major global health threats including two that have extinction potential

The choices humanity makes in the next 75 years could determine the fate of billions of lives — and whether our species makes it past the 21st century.In an extraordinary report from dozens of scientists, researchers compiled 17 of the most urgent health threats humanity will face before 2100.They estimated amenable disability-adjusted life-years, or DALYS — in short, how many healthy years would be lost from a given health threat.They found that these 17 catastrophic threats could account for tens of billions of years of lost health if trends continue.Of these threats, two have the potential to wipe out humanity entirely.But all hope isn’t lost — all threats outlined by researchers can be averted if we can action now.

Here’s what to know.Researchers found that 15 threats were each associated with at least 1 billion DALYs — about the equivalent of two COVID-19 pandemics, researchers said.These were:Of these, the threat associated with the biggest loss of healthy years by far was obesity, at 23.1 billion.Researchers say that obesity is rising in every country in the world, with food being higher in calories and exercise decreasing.Authors also highlight income inequality, which they estimate will have an avoidable health burden equivalent to 25 COVID-19 pandemics by 2100 (13.8 billion DALYs), and climate change, which they say could cost us at least 1.89 billion years of healthy life — though the burden is “likely even greater.”For all these threats, “humanity still has the agency to act,” said author Christopher JL Murray.“The decisions made by leaders today will shape the health and wellbeing of the next generation.

But delaying action will only serve to shift and increase the costs into the future.”Of the 17 worst threats, two were deemed to have the potential to lead to human extinction: nuclear conflict and famine, and malicious use of AI.While the likelihood of both “remain low,” researchers say they present “consequential thre...