Children are being born less intelligent because mothers experience extreme weather events, a new report suggests.
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It is one of many impacts of climate change laid bare in a paper from the Global Health Alliance Australia.
The alliance has given governments of all levels a nine-point plan to address the issue.
Drawing on more than 100 pieces of research and policy analysis, the report shows how environmental changes are affecting various health conditions.
For instance, it shows higher temperatures and greenhouse gas concentrations are increasing pollen output, leading to more allergies and asthma attacks.
Changes in climatic patterns are also leading to lower crop yields, which reduces food availability and some people not getting enough nutrients in their diet.
This can contribute to birth defects, brain impairment, stunted growth, anemia and pneumonia, the report suggests.
Global Health Alliance Australia executive director Misha Coleman said people often understand extreme weather events spurred by climate change can aid the spread of diseases carried by insects.
But there is limited awareness about the broader implications, including among federal politicians she has spoken to about the organisation's findings.
"There are so many other impacts," she told AAP.
Some of the the health impacts of extreme weather events can also take a back seat to the more obvious loss of life, Ms Coleman believes.
"During the Black Saturday fires for example, people know about how many people died in the fires," she said.
"But over those days, we had like 43 degree temperatures, there was an additional 374 deaths from heat stroke, because there is a relationship with heart failure and other sorts of underlying diseases that are massively exacerbated."
Ms Coleman was also startled to learn through her group's research that children who experience extreme weather events before they are born have on average lower IQs than those who don't.
Studies to this effect, including one that included children who went through the 2011 Brisbane floods, suggest the change is due to stress hormones from a mother crossing into the placenta.
"It's been estimated that those kids lost about 14 IQ points because of the stress their mothers went through," Ms Coleman said.
Publicly recognising the health impacts of climate change is among nine recommended actions in the report for governments of all levels.
The Global Health Alliance Australia, which represents 47 different organisations, also suggests wording up the health workforce on the threats emerging from climate change.
Taking the issue should also involve requiring all cabinet submissions to have a climate change impacts analysis, its report argues.
Australian Associated Press
