Climate change as a public health emergency, Pg8

Key Highlights:

• Climate change intensifies existing diseases and creates new health challenges in India, impacting water quality, vector-borne diseases, and air pollution.
• Increased waterlogging in cities like Mumbai leads to a rise in waterborne infections such as cholera and typhoid.
• Shifting seasonal patterns are expanding the reach and duration of vector-borne diseases like dengue and malaria, even in previously unaffected regions like Himachal Pradesh.
• Rising temperatures and air pollution, particularly PM2.5, exacerbate respiratory and cardiovascular conditions, impacting vulnerable populations.
• Climate change-induced disruptions in agriculture and food systems contribute to malnutrition and weakened immunity, especially among children.

Detailed Insights:

• Climate change-driven water scarcity forces communities to use unsafe water sources, increasing diarrheal diseases and chronic dehydration.
• Warmer temperatures and altered rainfall patterns are expanding disease windows and geographic reach, affecting communities with no prior exposure and underprepared healthcare systems.
• Rising air pollution from increased air conditioning usage elevates PM2.5 levels, causing inflammation, reduced lung function, and increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
• Extreme heat, especially rising night-time temperatures in urban areas, eliminates the body's recovery window, leading to heat-stroke-related deaths and cardiovascular strain.
• Climate change impacts food security by disrupting crop cycles, reducing agricultural productivity, and declining nutritional quality of food crops, leading to micronutrient deficiencies.

Key Concepts Involved:

• PM2.5: Microscopic pollutants that penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream, causing respiratory and cardiovascular damage.
• Vector-borne diseases: Illnesses transmitted by insects like mosquitoes, with their spread influenced by changing temperatures and rainfall.
• Micronutrient deficiencies: Lack of essential vitamins and minerals in the diet, weakening immunity and increasing vulnerability to disease.

Climate Change and Diseases