ELENA YURASOVA: It would be very challenging to find even some diseases are increasing to prove that they are due to climate changes. But we hope that methodology that we have from the United Nations and from ecological sciences will help us to find these connections.
SCOTT BEVAN: Those involved in the study say they're not just assessing what impact climate change is already having on people's health in this region. They're also trying to get a sense of what the future holds - to help the public health system, indeed the community as a whole, prepare for an increase in the number of cases related to the effects of climate change.
GALINA DYOGTEVA, RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF POLAR MEDICINE: It may be possible to model information regarding global warming, but the most important thing is to determine what will happen to people. What will be the incidence of disease among people living in these territories?
SCOTT BEVAN: Researchers in Russia's north say beyond a rise in infectious diseases, there are other risks. The indigenous people of the Arctic may have trouble preserving food and could face illnesses that weren't there before, so health care in remote areas would need a boost.
The melting of permafrost may release diseases from the carcasses of animals that have been trapped in the frozen ground. And rising water levels, they say, could see more natural disasters, such as floods.
The hope is the study will help stoke political will to devote more resources and attention to combating the health impacts of climate change.
ELENA YURASOVA: I think the cost of not action is quite high. It will be very high for our coming generations. So I think that it's a big responsibility for politicians today and for every citizens, and to think not only of things that they observed today, but of what's going on to happen if nothing changes.
SCOTT BEVAN: The study is expected to be completed in 2011.