Climate change and health effects

Climate change and health
Effects
Speakers
Dr Amol Nath
Capt. Dr Naveen Phuyal

Climate change and health
Effects
Moderator Speakers
Surg. Capt. Dinesh Sharma Dr Amol
Capt. Naveen

Scheme of Presentation
Global warming – Overview
Causes of Global warming
Health Effects of Global warming
Adaptation & Mitigation Activities

The Cassandra Effect
One who foresees, on available
evidence, a likely disaster; yet judges
that this can’t be prevented – and, that
anyway, others won’t believe the
forecast.

Drought turns Beijing orange
Independent 22 March 2010

Drought in Kenya killed Thousands of
Cattles

Climate Change- Examples
1914
2004

Climate Change- Examples
June 2002 Dec 2003

Some Natural Disasters In Recent Years
In India And Effects
• India, like other countries in the world, have had
natural disasters but its recurrence has enhanced in
the new millennium.
 Tsunami (December 2004)– affected Andaman & Nicobar,
Pondicherry, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh loss of Agri crops, cattle
wealth, housing and livelihood.
 Mumbai Floods (26th July 2005) –city got paralyzed and
floods in Maharashtra

Some Natural Disasters In Recent Years
In India And Effects
 Surat Flood (2006) – Estimated loss of Rs.22,000 crore. City’s
infrastructure affected, individual losses and crops like
sugarcane (Rs4,000 crore) were lost.
 Heavy rains in 2007 in Rajasthan with flooding and
consequent breakout of diseases, loss of crops and cattle
wealth.
 Bihar (2008) – Koshi river overflow caused flooding in large
area of Bihar & UP
 Current drought in Maharashtra state

Global Warming
‘The rise in the surface air
temperature, referred to as the
global temperature, brought about
by the enhanced greenhouse effect,
which is induced by emissions of
greenhouse gases into the air.’
• The Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) reported that
the 20th century saw an increase in
global average surface temperature
of approximately 0.7 °C
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC), Fourth Assessment Report(AR4),2007

What’s the difference between “global
warming” and “climate change”?

Difference
GLOBAL
WARMING
is the increase of the
Earth’s average
surface temperature
due to a build-up of
greenhouse gases in
the atmosphere.
CLIMATE
CHANGE
is a broader term
that refers to long-
term changes in
climate, including
average temperature
and precipitation.

Why Global Warming is
happening?

Greenhouse Effect: The Fundamentals

The Sun’s energy passes through the car’s
windshield.
This energy (heat) is trapped inside the car
and cannot pass back through the
windshield, causing the inside of the car to
warm up.
Greenhouse Effect: The Fundamentals

Greenhouse Gases
Nitrous oxide
Water vapour Carbon dioxide
Methane
Sulfur hexafluoride

Selected Greenhouse Gases
Water vapour:
•Water vapour is the most important greenhouse gas, but
human activity doesn’t have much direct impact on its amount in
the atmosphere.
•Increased evapouration leads to a greater concentration of
water vapour in the lower atmosphere capable of absorbing
long-wave radiation and emitting it downward

Selected Greenhouse Gases
• Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
 Anthropogenic increase: 37%
 Average atmospheric residence time: 500 years
• Methane (CH4)
 Average atmospheric residence time: 7-10 years
• Nitrous oxide (N2O)
 Average atmospheric residence time: 140-190 years

Sources of Greenhouse Gases
Burning carbon-containing fossil fuels
produces carbon dioxide

CO2 Significant greenhouse pollutant
 Humans have increased carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere
by more than 37% since the Industrial Revolution. - NOAA 2008
 Currently the level of carbon dioxide in atmosphere is highest
(385 ppm) in last 8,00,000 years. - Prof. Thomas Blunier, Univ. of
Copenhagen; Monaco Declaration 2008.

Methane from rice paddies, animal ranching,
garbage in landfills and mining operations

Nitrous oxide from fertilizers and
other chemicals

Global Contributors to
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
 Leading sources of greenhouse gas emissions are combustion of
fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas
 More than 60% of the annual global industrial carbon dioxide
emissions come from industrialized countries, accounting for 20%
of the world’s population
U.S. per capita emissions of carbon are over 20 times higher
than India, 12 times higher than Brazil, and 7 times higher than
China
These per capita rates expected to change significantly as China,
India, and other countries continue to develop economically
 Global carbon dioxide emissions are projected to increase by at
least 50% over the next 25 years under current conditions

IPCC 2007: Human Impact is Evident
Carbon dioxide concentration over the past 1000 years

Global Population Estimates
• A vicious circle for our times
More people use more energy;
More energy means more emissions;
More people want affluence;
More affluence means more gadgets;
More gadgets need yet more energy;
Which produces yet more emissions

The consequences
• The world is getting hotter
(very slowly 0.1°C per decade)
• Sea levels are rising
(very slowly 3mm/yr)
• Snow cover is decreasing
Source-IPCC, WG1, Figure SPM.3, 2007

The last 10 years are all in the top 15
warmest years on record
World Metrological Organization, Report on Climate Change,2010

Global Warming - Effects
 Geographical
effects
 Climate change
 Wildlife
 Humans

Ice cover 23% smaller than
previous minimum; 39% smaller
than average
 Ice 53% thinner in region of
North Pole between 2001 and
2007 (NOAA Report Card 2008)
In September 2007, an area the
size of Florida (69,000 square
miles) melted (NSIDC 2007)
Melting Sea Ice

Arctic sea ice coverage is decreasing..
Less sea ice means less reflection of the sun’s energy; More
exposure of dark coloured ocean means more absorption of
the sun’s heat; These combined effects warm the Arctic,
helping to melt more sea ice – another vicious circle

The Arctic Ocean could be ice-free in summer by 2040
(U.S National Center for Atmospheric Research, 2006)
“Society can still minimize the impacts on Arctic ice.”
( Dr. Marika Holland, National Center for Atmospheric Research)
2000
2040

•More than half of the world's population now lives
within 60km of the sea.
•Most vulnerable regions: Nile delta in Egypt, the
Ganges-Brahmaputra delta in Bangladesh, many small
islands, such as the Maldives, the Marshall Islands
Sea-level Rise Projections :

Sea-level Rise Projections
• Ganges River delta and 1m
sea level rise in
Bangladesh-13 million will
be displaced and 16% of
rice production will be lost.
• Similar 1 m sea level rise in
China will displace 72
million people.

As the temperature of oceans rise, so will the probability of
more frequent and stronger hurricanes.
Warmer waters and more hurricanes

Increased probability and intensity of
droughts and heat waves

Health effects of changing
climates

Health inequalities between rich and poor
• Climate change will have greatest effect on those
who have the least access to world’s resources and
who have contributed least to its cause.
The rich world:
more expensive,
inconvenient,
uncomfortable, disrupted
and colorless,
more unpleasant and
unpredictable.
Poor will
die

Why suffering more for the poor?
 The health systems are :
• Disorganized
• Inefficient
• Under-resourced
“The toxic combination of bad policies, economics, and
politics – people do not enjoy the good health that is
biologically possible.

Is fossil fuel to be blamed?
Fossil fuel has contributed to development and huge
improvement in global health and development in the past
100 yrs.
Developed world and richer part of developing world -
doubled their longetivity, reduced poverty, increased
education and enhanced their security.
Luxury emissions vs survival emissions

Effect of climate change on health
• Changing pattern of the
disease
• Water and food insecurity
• Vulnerable shelter and
human settlements
• Extreme climatic events
• Population growth and
migration

• The heat waves
• Heat related stress and heat stroke
• Heat island effect
• Vector borne diseases and Rodent borne diseases
• Cancers
• Vectors access areas previously free from diseases
Changing patterns of disease

Schistosomiasis
Fascioliasis
Alveolar echinococcosis
leishmaniasis
Lyme borreliosis
Tick-borne encephalitis
Hantavirus infections
Dilution effect in Lyme, West
Nile and hantavirus diseases

• Cholera outbreaks-
increased planktons growth
• Floods also promote
outbreaks of
cryptosporidiosis
• Increased rainfall and
flooding -leptospirosis
outbreak.

Food insecurity
• Chronic and acute child malnutrition, low birth
weights, and suboptimal breastfeeding.
• Climate change will compound existing food insecurity.
• Hunger, illness, and death due to under nutrition are
set to worsen as climate change affects crops, forestry,
livestock, fisheries, aquaculture, and water systems.
• Rising food prices.

Water and sanitation
• Lack of access to clean water and
sanitation
• Biological or chemical contamination
• Increased incidence of water-borne
and vector-borne diseases
• Changing rainfall and temperature
• More intense droughts and floods
• Water scarcity might result in greater
conflict between and within countries
and communities

Shelter and human settlements
• Need for secure emergency shelter for those
displaced or affected
• Human settlements prepared for the future
climate-changed environment
• Disease and injury

Shelter and human settlements
• Vulnerability for the poorest and most
powerless- no opportunities to adapt
• Energy security
• Concern to many governments -potential
source of international tension and conflict

Extreme events
• Major disasters -directly linked.
• Associated health problems( Indirect)
loss or contamination of potable water
leading to disease, destruction of crops
resulting in food shortages, poor nutrition,
and malnutrition.

Extreme events
• In the long term-after a disaster- depression and
anxiety
• Extreme meteorological phenomena, including heat
waves and cold waves, floods, droughts, and
windstorms
• Most meteorological extreme events is expected to
continue to rise
• Hot conditions, heat waves, and heavy precipitation
events will continue to become more frequent

Population and migration
Population growth - shelter, food, and water scarcity.
Population growth also puts additional stress on already weak
health systems.
Exacerbates vulnerability to the adverse health effects of climate
change.

• Population growth -increase pressure and
competition for scarce resources
• Rising sea levels, which result from oceanic
thermal expansion and ice-cap melting, will be
a major contributing factor to population
displacement.

• Climate change might be one of many factors
influencing violence, but where conflict occurs
between migrant and host populations, it is a
result of national identity clashes rather than
of migration.

Health effects of adaptation and
mitigation activities

Health effects of adaptation activities
• Activities carried out in order to adapt to climate change
can in some cases lead to additional health risks.
1. Construction of dams for water storage
2. Irrigation of land
3. Wastewater for agricultural irrigation
• Need for an integrated risk assessment during the
development of new policies at national level or local
level
However, it is likely that many such practices will take place
informally in rural or peri-urban settlements so that national
regulations may not be as effective.

Co-benefits of mitigation activities
• Reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases
• Transport policies
• Better insulation of houses in cold climates

• Climate change does not create new health
hazards.
• It may act as a multiplier of existing health
problems or change the location of health
concerns.
• To add the climate dimension into existing
international or community-based programs and
actions.
• Cross-sectoral approaches are needed.
Further research is needed on links between climate
and health and projected effects,
as well as the most effective adaptation measures

What to do?
• Should we do the same things ??
OR
• Do things differently??
Short term climate variability – Better Focus
Longer term- Planning for how to ensure that systems
remain resilient and adaptable to changing risks.

Doing more of the same
• Strengthen health systems -human resources.
• Improve access to water and sanitation.
• Improve knowledge about hygiene.
• Improve surveillance systems.

Doing more of the same
• Improve laboratory facilities
and standardize diagnosis and
reporting.
• Increase international
collaborations on surveillance.
• Make better use of the few
existing early warning systems
for particular diseases.

Doing things differently
• Make better use of early warning information
• Public health decision-making and preparedness
• Focus surveillance efforts on high risk areas
• Invest in win-win solutions
• Take health risks into account when planning
adaptation measures

• Ensure the health sector is at the table when
planning
• Taking into account future sea level rise and
flood-plains when planning infrastructure
• Take into account changing temperatures during
building design

• When planning cities, take
into account
 The urban heat island effect
 Ensure availability of shaded
spaces and green areas
 Ensure that water and
sanitation infrastructure is
resilient to extremes of
precipitation
 Facilitate modes of transport
that contribute to public
health and reduce greenhouse
gas emissions

• There is a need to document, assess and
disseminate experiences of adaptation as
countries and regions undertake and plan
such strategies.

Plastic bags and cups do
not decompose so
harmful to environment
Paper bags and cups
are eco friendly and
easily decomposable
Reduce the usage
of cars for short
distances
Walk /use cycles for
short distances

Turn to compact florescent light which saves
more than 80% of energy

Avoid turning up the air conditioner.
Instead dress lightly or use a fan.
Keep rooms cool by closing the
blinds, shades, or curtains.
Turn off the lights when you
leave.
Conserve electricity!
DO NOT leave appliances
on standby

REUSE
Paper can be reused for various purposes
Covers and boxes which comes with products
can be used for decorative purposes
Plastic bags can be used for carrying small things

What Can Be Recycled?
Paper Items
Paper Cardboard Envelopes Phone Books Post-it Notes Magazine
Bottles and Cans
Cans Plastic Bottles Glass Bottles Aluminum Foil Yogurt and Cottage
Cheese containers

Use alternate energy courses
Nuclear
Wind
Geothermal
Hydroelectric
Solar

Advantages of 3R’s
Reduction of
wastages
Less pollution
Efficient
use of
resources
Increase
in energy

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