Climate Change And Our Health

A new study has revealed that in the coming decades there will be more than a quarter-million people that will die each year as a result of climate change. Rachael Rettner, Senior Writer for Live Science has offered more information on this study.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that this change would lead to additional deaths each year between 2030 and 2050 from malnutrition, heat stress and malaria. Dr. Andrew Haines is co-author of the study, epidemiologist and former director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

The Who estimate of 250,000 deaths related to climate change didn’t take into account the illnesses and deaths tied to disruptions in health services that are caused by extreme weather and climate events.

There was no updated estimate of these deaths but it did note that reduced food production alone is predicted to lead to a net increase of 529,000 adult deaths by 2050, according to a 2016 study.

This change might also force more than 100 million people into extreme poverty by 2030. This in turn would make them more vulnerable to the health effects of the changing climate. This brings to the front the need for investments and policies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and promote ways to mitigate the health effects of climate change.

The climate change is causing injuries, illnesses and deaths. The risks are projected to increase substantially with additional climate change and threaten the health of many millions of people. These threats to our health threatening us by climate change demand some decisive actions from health professionals and governments to protect the health of current and future generations.

Other things that could change are desert bacteria could die with the more erratic temps and cause a struggle to adapt. The ocean could darken as increasing precipitation would result in stronger flowing rivers that stir up more silt and debris flowing into the ocean making it opaque. The populations’ allergies could worsen. The pollen in airways will come earlier and increase the overall pollen. This could also allow sunlight flood that would allow seaweeds and marine plant life to smother invertebrate and decrease biodiversity in certain regions.

After reading about this, I feel we all should consider what it is that we may do in our own life to help a little each day. That news seemed a little unsettling to me.

Dr Fredda Branyon