Impact Of Climate Change On Health
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‘Code Red’ – Impact Of Climate Change On Health

A recent study published in the Lancet signals the drastic impact of climate change on human health and states that the forecast is bleak.

Droughts will ruin food production, increasing temperatures will elevate the transmission of dangerous pathogens like malaria and cholera, and present climate trends intimate a “code red” for future health.

According to the paper, over a 6-month period in 2020, 51.6 million individuals were hit by 84 calamities like droughts, floods, and storms in nations already dealing with COVID-19.

The Lancet Countdown 2021 report ascertains a world devastated by an ongoing global health crisis, with slight advancements made to shield its people from the concurrently exacerbated health impacts of climate change. According to the paper, climate change led to a record-breaking heatwave in the US Pacific Northwest, killing over 1,000 people.

The authors of the study stated that in 2021, individuals aged above 65 years or younger than one year, as well as those facing social disadvantages, were the most hit by record-breaking temperatures higher than 40°C in the Pacific Northwest regions of the US and Canada in June 2021.

Dr. Jeremy Hess, a co-author and a professor

of global health and emergency medicine, the University of Washington, stated that he had witnessed some of these health impacts firsthand.

He added that during the heat dome, he was treating two of his patients in their Seattle hospitals, and unfortunately, it was the first year he and his patients felt the effects of climate change. He had witnessed paramedics with burns on their knees from kneeling down to care for heatstroke patients, and many patients succumbed in the ED this year due to heat exposure.

How does climate change contributes to disease spread?

Since the 1950s, the temperature rise has led to a surge in the number of months where malaria is transmissible, as well as a rise in the number of areas apt for cholera transmission, stated the report. Viruses with “epidemic potential,” such as dengue and Zika, have become more prevalent around the world.

The authors mentioned that climate change, along with global movement and urbanization, is a dominant factor that increases the number of dengue virus infections, which has multiplied every decade since 1990.

Other notable emerging or re-emerging arboviruses spread by mosquitos are expected to respond similarly to climate change.

How Covid-19’s ‘green recovery’ can help?

According to Hess, if the global COVID-19 recovery is not a “green recovery,” it could deteriorate an already terrible situation.

He further added that the system had spent immense resources in recovery; however, it has not taken the opportunity to invest in a green recovery that is not fueled by fossil fuels, which is wistfully a missed shot. We can invest in a healthier future, and as of now, this is a crucial moment in climate change politics in the US and across the world, and this opportunity has to be seized.

The report highlights the significance of global climate action, such as the Paris Agreement, on global health.

COVID-19 or climate change has no regard for national boundaries. SARS-CoV-2 and its new mutants will remain to endanger everyone’s health unless widespread, accessible vaccination is implemented across all nations and societies. Similarly, combating climate change necessitates an immediate and coordinated response from all nations, with COVID-19 recovery funds designated to support and assure a shift to a low-carbon future and climate change adaptation globally.

By addressing the trillions of dollars committed to COVID-19 recovery toward the WHO’s prescripts for a healthy, green recovery, the world could meet Paris Agreement goals, protect natural systems that support well-being, and decrease inequities through decreased health effects and more advantages of a universal low-carbon transition.

Dr. Renee Salas, Asst professor of emergency medicine, Harvard Medical School, stated that every part of a degree matters for health inequity, and the United States has a chance to take the urgent comprehensive actions that are required to protect the health.

He added that climate change is an initial and leading health crisis that is currently unwinding. As an emergency medicine doctor, he pledged to protect his patients’ health, which cannot be done without proper action on climate change. As a result, enhancing health and stimulating equity must not only be the focus, but it also has to guide how to respond to it.

We’re about to repeat the same blunder

The pandemic gives way to better prepare for climate change as a global health crisis, stated Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director, The American Public Health Association.

He added that we have just spent years preparing for and discussing a pandemic, and to be honest, we weren’t ready. The infrastructure required was not in place. The world has de-invested in the health and public health systems in ways that dreadfully resulted in a 2-year of major outbreak that didn’t have to be as severe as it was.

The actual problem here is that we were about to make the same blunder again. As the necessary investments in mitigation and adaptation to address climate change are not made, we will be experiencing the same things.

In an article accompanying the report, researchers discussed what has historically made societies resilient to climate change.

The article’s authors stated that these pathways are: exploiting new opportunities, building resilient energy systems, migration and transformation, producing political and institutional adaptations, and using trade and resources.

The main message is that the world requires a new period of research that is less concentrated on climate change forecasts and more concentrated on anticipating the societal consequences of future warming and how to overcome them. The onset of a climate emergency is not unavoidable.

Source

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Keyword: Impact Of Climate Change On Health – ‘Code Red’