Download Health impact of climate change

Effect of climate change
on our health
The Connection Between Climate
Change and Health
Overview
• Climate Change, Greenhouse Effect, and Global
Warming
• Greenhouse gases
• Impact(s) of climate change on health
The Greenhouse Effect
Greenhouse gases
• water vapor and carbon dioxide (CO2), occur
naturally. Human activities are adding large amounts
of:
• carbon dioxide, methane (CH4), nitrous oxide
(N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs),
perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulfur hexafluoride
(SF6).
• Since 1750, atmospheric concentrations of CO2,
CH4 and N2O have increased by over 36 percent,
148 percent and 18 percent, respectively.
Global warming
• is an average increase in temperatures near the
Earth’s surface and in the lowest layer of the
atmosphere.
• Increases in temperatures in our Earth’s
atmosphere can contribute to changes in global
climate patterns.
• Global warming can be considered part of
climate change along with changes in
precipitation, sea level, etc.
Greenhouse Effect
• The greenhouse effect is a natural process that sees the
Earth's atmosphere insulate the Earth.
• Incoming solar radiation (short-wave radiation) is
absorbed at the Earth's surface. The Earth's climatic
system then redistributes this energy around the globe,
through atmospheric and oceanic circulation
patterns. Energy is then radiated back from the Earth's
surface into the atmosphere as long-wave radiation
• Over time there is an approximate balance in this
incoming (short-wave) and outgoing (long-wave)
radiation. Changes to this balance, such as changes in
the amount of radiation received or lost by the system, or
changes to the distribution cycles within the system, can
affect climate.
Climate Change and
Health Implications-CDC
WHO: five major health impacts of
climate change
1. Malnutrition
2. Deaths and injuries caused by storms and floods.
(Flooding can also be followed by outbreaks of
diseases, such as cholera)
3. Water scarcity / contamination (droughts and sudden
floods) – increased burden of diarrhoeal disease.
4. Heatwaves – direct increases in morbidity and
mortality; indirect effects via increases in ground-level
ozone, contributing to asthma attacks.
5. Vector-borne disease – malaria and dengue.
Infectious diseases – foodborne and
waterborne diseases
Foodborne diseases
• Likely increase in cases of food
poisoning
• incidence dependent on future food
hygiene behaviour
• evidence confirms the effect of
temperature on salmonellosis
Waterborne diseases
• Likely increase in cases of
Cryptosporidiosis
• Impact of increased temperature on
water quality & disinfection
Health impact of climate change
• Vector-borne diseases – various diseases
transmitted by mosquitoes or ticks are climatesensitive and can increase or be introduced due
to climate change.
• Malaria might be re-established in non-endemic
areas.
• Potential emergence of other vector-borne
diseases, such as West Nile Fever.
Health impact of climate change
• UV exposure – levels of UV radiation reaching
the earth’s surface may increase due to sunnier
summers,
• a decline in cloud cover and ozone depletion
(which reduces the capacity of the ozone layer
to absorb UV).
• predicted an extra 5,000 cases of skin cancer
and 2,000 of cataract per year by 2050.
Exposure to ultra violet radiation
Likely increases in:
• Sunburn
• Skin cancer
• Possibly cataracts