‘Climate change is the greatest threat to human health in history’ – is a profound statement to make at a time like this with COVID-19 infections rising and racial discrimination protests all over the world. However, climate change still commands our attention due to all its looming and adverse impacts on our health.
Our health is often accredited to heredity, local environment, personal tendencies, occupation, and access to health facilities. In order to be in perfect health, we require the services of a thriving ecosystem. Climate stability and regulation, an ecosystem service, confers – moderate weather, food, water, a habitat, and limited infectious diseases – which all life depends on. However, over the last century human activities have brought about disruptions in our global climate which has inadvertently led to climate change.
Climate change is a change in regional and global weather patterns due to an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide because of human activities. The main activities are the combustion of fossil fuels for energy and deforestation through burning forests to clear land for agriculture.
Interestingly, the climate change we experience today is due to emissions from the last century and not from carbon dioxide emissions from today, last year or the previous decade. This means the emissions we emit today will not affect us but our children and their children and so on.
HOW DOES CLIMATE CHANGE AFFECT OUR HEALTH?
Theoretically, climate change can affect human health in two ways:
- By aggravating health problems that are caused by climate or weather.
- By creating unanticipated or unprecedented health problems in places or seasons in which they have not previously occurred.
Climate change impacts include changes in precipitation, warming temperatures, increase in intensity and frequency of weather events and rising sea level. Warm places will become warmer and wet places, wetter. Warm air has a greater capacity to hold water vapour and high temperatures cause more surface evaporation; when these two factors are coupled, they drastically increase the number and severity of rain events. This can be alluded to the situation in Kenya with ravaging floods destroying homes and causing deaths in certain parts of the country.
HEALTH IMPACTS
- High temperatures will cause heat waves, heat stroke, and severe dehydration which damage the brain and nervous system and can lead to fatalities.
- Increase in wildfires as seen in Australia, Indonesia and California led to the release of smoke and particulate matter. Particulate matter consists of small particles and liquid droplets that are suspended in the atmosphere. These particles are emitted directly into the atmosphere from fossil fuel combustion and wildfires. Inhaling particulate matter can cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and cardiovascular disease.
- Periods of unhealthy amounts of ground level ozone can be increased by warmer temperatures this kind of pollution can cause respiratory diseases and consequently millions of premature deaths according to WHO. It will lead to damaged lung tissue, inflamed airways and reduced lung function. Furthermore, it can aggravate lung diseases and asthma.
- Vector borne diseases such as malaria, Lyme disease and Dengue fever will be on the rise; they are transmitted by disease vectors such as mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas. These vectors can carry infectious pathogens like viruses, bacteria, and protozoa from animals to humans. Changes in local climate and weather patterns in different parts of the world can see the spread of vector diseases that were limited to one geographic region. Examples include the increase of malaria cases in Kenya’s highland regions and the increase in distribution of the Anopheles mosquito in Mount Kilimanjaro.
- Contaminated water from heavy rains and runoff plus flooding brought about by rising sea level will contaminate inland water sources and give rise to waterborne diseases such as typhoid and cholera. Water quality and supply will also be affected. Ingestion of polluted water causes gastrointestinal illness like diarrhea, liver and kidney damage and nervous and respiratory system complications.
- It is worth noting that high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere stimulate carbohydrate production and starch. It also favours the growth of barley, potatoes, wheat and rice. On the downside it lowers the production of plant protein and absorption of essential minerals like iron and zinc because high CO2 concentration reduces water uptake from the soil. In addition, floods and droughts can affect food production which will compromise food security and lead to malnutrition.
- Rise in sea levels is another threat to human health, this is brought about by the melting and thawing of Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets when combined, and if both melt completely, it will add 20 ft (from Greenland) and 10ft (from Antarctic) to the water. This will displace hundreds of millions of people seeing that more than half of the global population live within 60km of the sea.
- It is also important to understand that mental health will also be affected due to the perceived threat of climate change to life. It can trigger stress responses, depression, anxiety, hopelessness, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
VULNERABLE PARTIES
No one will be left untouched by the wrath of climate change. However, some are more vulnerable to its effects than others. This depends on access to health care and safety response systems in a country to prepare for the threats as well as the health condition, age, gender, and financial capability of individuals.
The effects vary depending on exposure to impacts, occurrence of pre-existing conditions and adaptability of the area.
People living on small islands, coastal regions and mega cities are also highly likely to be affected.
CONCLUSION
Climate change cannot be ignored. It affects every aspect of our lives; the water we drink, food we consume, weather we enjoy and air we breathe. However, COVID-19 has postponed pivotal climate action conferences such as the COP26 (Conference of Parties – 26th session) UN climate change conference that was set to be held in Glasgow in November 2020. With experts and leaders unable to meet to discuss climate issues and the world’s focus shifted on restoring world economies post-COVID-19, what will this mean for the climate crisis?
Sources
https://unfccc.int/news/climate-change-impacts-human-health
https://health2016.globalchange.gov/
https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health