Writer: Sienna Caunedo
What is Climate Change?
Climate change refers to the constant long-term change in weather and temperature
patterns. Although climate change is a natural occurrence, for the past few decades our
temperatures and weather events have only been worsening in severity largely due to mankind’s use of burning fossil fuels and excess use of power, to name a few.
How Does it Connect to Public Health?
The increase in worldwide temperatures and the occurrence of severe weather events not only affect the environment but also present substantial threats to human health. One common byproduct of these rising temperatures is Heat Stress. Heat stress occurs when the body has an excess amount of heat that it cannot get rid of quickly enough – leading to heat cramps, heat strokes, heat rashes, and heat exhaustion. Heat stress occurs in 3 main stages:
• The body temperature increases – heart rate accelerates.
• As the body gets hotter, the person begins to lose control and concentration of their
surroundings and may experience dizziness, irritability, and a lower desire to
drink water.
• By the third stage, it is essential to cool down the body before fatally experiencing
a heat stroke or in some cases – death.
The main demographic that is most affected by heat strokes is adults who are aged 65+,
overweight, take medication that may be affected by elevated temperatures, and have high blood pressure or heart disease. The number of heat-related fatalities continues to rapidly increase as seen in the graph below:
The Spread of Infectious Diseases
In addition to heat stress, climate change significantly impacts the spread of infectious diseases. According to a 2022 review by Nature Climate Change, 218 out of 375 (58%) of infectious diseases had been worsened by climate change. Due to the warmer temperatures, pathogens and insects can now enter habitats they were not able to due to colder temperatures; spreading diseases such as mosquito-borne illnesses and vibrio vulnificus (flesh-eating bacteria). Alongside warmer temperatures and worsened weather are other effects. An increase in natural disasters or rainfall is causing a rise in pathogens in water supplies such as rivers, puddles, oceans, etc.
Countries such as Kenya, currently face cholera outbreaks due to worsened weather
conditions infecting their drinking water. Cholera is an acute diarrheal infection from
consuming contaminated water or food supplies. Another byproduct of worsened weather
conditions can be seen with the Dengue surge. Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral disease usually infecting those living in Central and South America, Africa, Asia, the Pacific Islands, and some parts of the United States.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there has been a significant
geographical expansion for dengue and chikungunya – a mosquito-borne disease that causes fever, severe joint and muscle pain, and in severe cases, death. This sudden surge in geographical expansion now leaves over half of the population at risk of contracting these diseases. Severe storms and floods frequently result in standing water, which provides an ideal environment for mosquitoes to breed and spread numerous pathogens. In Pakistan, a surge in flooding and stagnant water has caused a third of the population to contract malaria or dengue, both of which can be seriously fatal without proper medical care. Unfortunately, many families in Pakistan have no other choice but to use the infected water, spreading the disease even more.
The Future of Our Climate
As the years pass, the time limit to improve our climate gets slimmer, but not all hope is lost, there are ways countries and communities are fighting to improve the current ever-changing climate.
Recognizing the importance of enhancing infectious disease surveillance and providing comprehensive education on disease patterns is crucial. This will enable clinicians to predict changes in infectious disease patterns, especially in lower-income areas, and help in lowering the spread of climate-related diseases. Vaccines should also be more accessible to lower income areas, according to the LANCET Regional Health, ~50% of the targeted area demographic that is at serious risk for climate-related diseases such as dengue are not vaccinated or have not been renewed for a vaccination. Thankfully, there are nonprofits and government initiatives that are currently making vaccinations a widespread practice in areas such as Central and South America, Africa, and the Pacific Islands.
What Can You Do to Help?
Although one might think that one person cannot make a difference – especially when it comes to the increasing temperatures and worsening weather of our planet, one person can truly make a difference. Some ways you can help reduce the speed of climate change:
• Save Energy While at Home. Limiting heating and cooling usages, washing clothes with cold water, hanging clothes to dry outside rather than a dryer can reduce your carbon footprint by up to 900 kilos of CO2 per year.
• Other Methods of Transportation. Using cars as your main means of transportation
can generate over 4.6 metric tons of CO2 annually. Some more eco-friendly ways to
get around include using a: bicycle, skateboard, public transport, scooter, etc.
• Overconsumption. Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle are extremely important values to hold, especially in the current trend of overconsumption. Buying fewer items, thrifting, and repairing items rather than buying a new one can greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Plastic alone can generate up to 1.8 billion tons of GHG emissions. By the year 2060, this number is predicted to increase to up to 4.3 billion tons of GHG emissions.
• Plant More Trees. Planting more trees can improve our air quality tremendously,
removing CO2 from our air and releasing more O2 into our atmosphere. In one full year, a mature tree can remove up to 48 pounds of CO2 that would have otherwise been in our atmosphere.
As we keep learning more about Climate Change and all the effects it has on us as
a planet and community, doing your part to help combat climate change can help improve
our lives and the lives of the generations to come.
Sources
1. “Causes - NASA Science.” NASA, NASA, Accessed 11 Aug. 2024.
2. “Heat Stress.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, 31 Aug. 2020.
3. Mora, Camilo, et al. “Over Half of Known Human Pathogenic Diseases Can Be
Aggravated by Climate Change.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 8 Aug.
2022.
4. “The Deadly Diseases That Are Spiking Because of Climate Change.” Gavi, the
Vaccine Alliance, 7 Aug. 2024.
5. “Cholera, an Old Foe, Is Becoming a New Kind of Problem for Kenya.” Gavi, the
Vaccine Alliance, 17 Apr. 2024.
6. “Geographical Expansion of Cases of Dengue and Chikungunya beyond the
Historical Areas of Transmission in the Region of the Americas.” World Health
Organization, World Health Organization, Accessed 11 Aug. 2024
7. Gerba, Charles P. “Environmentally Transmitted Pathogens.” Edited by Ian L. Pepper
et al., Environmental Microbiology, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2015, 8. Muller,
Madison. “Climate Change Raises Risk of Infectious Disease Outbreaks; Solutions
Needed.” Bloomberg.Com, Bloomberg, 12 Oct. 2022,
9. Alexander Diaz-Quijano, Fredi. “Effectiveness of Mass Dengue Vaccination with
CYD-TDV (Dengvaxia®) in the State of Paraná, Brazil: Integrating Case-Cohort and
Case-Control Designs.” THE LANCENT Regional Health, 21 May 2024.
10. “Plastic Leakage and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Are Increasing.” OECD Temporary
and-greenhouse-gas-emissions.htm. Accessed 11 Aug. 2024.
This article has been written by an individual not in the Medical Blogs team as an "Open Submission Article".
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