Health
Coping with climate change  The Hindu, 01 June 2009 The effects of climate change on health are likely to be significant. Managing the challenge will greatly depend on an effective adaptation mechanism being drawn up at the United Nations climate change conference to be held in Copenhagen later this year. Higher global temperatures are expected to have both direct and indirect effects on health. Given that a 2-degree C rise in temperature by the end of the century is considered inevitable, it is time to prepare for the fallout. Morbidity and mortality from vector-borne diseases, for instance, could spread to newly-warming areas because some insects and pathogens benefit from temperature changes. Access to clean water will be compromised by severe droughts, and more intense monsoon events such as cyclones and floods could lead to epidemics. Adapting to the health effects of climate change will require a strong global policy framework, combined with similar action at the national and sub-national levels. Adaptation can have a strong foundation only if a good funding mechanism exists. Optimistic assessments have it that an accrual of $1-5 billion a year is possible under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. Going by forecasts on climate change effects, these funds are almost certain to fall far short of what is needed — running into tens of billions — to meet the challenges faced by low- and middle-income countries.
Climate change biggest threat to health by Sarah Boseley, The Hindu, 28 May 2009 Senior doctors in the U.K. recently published a report warning that climate change is the biggest threat to global health of the 21st century. Rising global temperatures would have a catastrophic effect on human health, the doctors said, and patterns of infection would change, with insect-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever spreading more easily. Heat waves Heat waves such as occurred in Europe in 2003, which caused up to 70,000 “excess” deaths, will become more common, as will hurricanes, cyclones and storms, causing flooding and injuries. “We have not just underestimated but completely neglected and ignored this issue,” said Richard Horton, editor of the Lancet, which published the report commissioned from University College London. by Juan Almendares and Paul R. Epstein, Worldwatch.org, 01 January 2009
Climate change has multiple direct and indirect consequences for human health--all of which are important. Climate change also threatens to disrupt Earth's life-support systems that underlie health and well-being. After all, human health and well-being basically depend on the health of crop systems, forests, other animals, and marine life. Health is the final common pathway for environmental and social conditions. Thus, the well-documented threats that climate change holds for societies and for ecosystems--for coral reefs, forests, and agriculture--ultimately pose the greatest long-term threats to health, nutrition, and well-being.One of the first direct and most obvious results of climate change--an outcome clearly tied to rising average temperatures--is heat waves. These are expected to take an increasing toll in all nations. The disproportionate increase in nighttime temperatures since 1970 and the rising humidity that stems from warming oceans and a heated atmosphere increase the health threats fromheat waves. Climate, Climate Change and Human Health in Asian Cities
Climate change will affect the health of urban populations. It represents a range of environmental hazards and will affect populations where the current burden of climate-sensitive disease is high - such as the urban poor in low- and middle-income countries. Understanding the current impact of weather and climate variability on the health of urban populations is the first step towards assessing future impacts. In this paper, we have reviewed the scientific evidence for the effects of temperature, rainfall and extreme events on human health, in particular the impacts of heat waves and floods. This paper discusses the particular and disproportionate risks to urban children in poverty from various aspects of climate change, both extreme events and changing means. It explores the potential impacts on children’s health, learning and psychosocial well-being, and considers the implications of family coping strategies for children. The paper goes on to discuss the implications for adaptation, making recommendations for an adaptation agenda that focuses on the realities for children. Preparatory measures are considered, as well as responses to extreme events and to changes in weather patterns.
Extreme weather changes surpassing their usual statistical ranges and tumbling records in India could be an early warning bell of global warming. Extreme weather events like the recent record setting in western Indian city of Mumbai or all time high fatalities due to the heat wave in southern Indian states or increasing vulnerability of easten Indian states to flood could all be a manifestation of climate change in the Asian subcontinent. While the skeptics may be inclined to dismiss these events as simple local aberrations, when viewed in an epidemiological paradigm in terms of person, time and space couple with frequency, intensity and fatalities, it could well be an early manifestation of climate change. Global warming poses serious challenge to the health sector and hence warrants emergency health preparedness and response. Climate-sensitive diseases are among the largest global killers, hence major brunt of global climate change in terms of adverse health impact will be mostly borne by poor and developing countries in Asia, given the levels of poverty, nutional levels and poor public health infrastructure
In the past two decades, we have recorded several changes in disease outbreaks across the world. When taken together, it seems they tell us a story about the impacts of climate change. The issue has been studied mostly in developed countries. What we know is that with rising temperatures, the number of deaths also goes up. Most of these deaths, that are attributed to immediate rise in daily temperature, are caused by heart attacks or respiratory failures. “Everything is connected in our earth system,” said Conrad C. Lautenbacher, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, at a panel on “Changing Climate: Changing Health Patterns.” The key is bringing all types of data together — health, weather, human behaviour, disasters and others Thirteen million deaths are caused by preventable environmental reasons each year, the World Health Organisation said on the eve of World Environment Day. Cutting down degradation, however, has the potential to save four million children alone each year, mostly in developing countries such as India, China and Sub-Saharan Africa. There's more to climate change than just melting glaciers and ices-caps. With floods inundating Mumbai streets, monsoons causing dengue in Delhi each year, and heat waves becoming a part of Chennai life, environmental changes are touching our lives in every way. According to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), climate change is likely to have a greater impact on India compared to other countries similarly positioned, on account of the unique combination of its geography, diverse population characteristics and extremely high carbon-related energy dependence (Source: The Hindu, September 5, 2008). Climate change is bound to affect the basic requirements for maintaining health - clean air and water, sufficient food, adequate shelter, and freedom from disease given the already high level of poverty, low nutritional levels and poor public health infrastructure in the country. |
