When I’m writing this blog, the most important conference of the year, COP26, is taking place in Glasgow, where leaders, policymakers, and environmentalists from all over the world discuss to tackle climate change and how to get business sectors attention to investing in reducing emissions of greenhouse gases through producing better transport and food.
For the last ten years or more, citizens have heard breaking news: “Sea temperatures are abnormally high in Alaska “; Melting glaciers may someday flood your city”; “protect the Antarctic”; “Amazon-The lungs of the planet are on fire “; La Palma Volcanic eruption causes devastation “; Global warming will hit 1.5C by 2040” and so on. Hearing this news, somebody thinks mother nature will tell us something, or we must demand the government to ban fossil fuels to save our planet.
When we are arguing about climate change, the world health organization is reporting that between 2030-2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250 000 additional deaths per year from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress. The current environmental problems pose a lot of risks to the health of humans and animals. Polluted water is the most significant health risk of the world and damages quality of life and public health. Rivers carry toxins, chemicals, cause diseases like asthma, cardiovascular diseases, etc.
According to research done globally, the significant effects on Global environmental health are Global warming and Overpopulation.
Global warming
The cause is the increasing quality of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere produced by humans. Global warming is harming the environment in several ways, including the increased melty of snow and ice. Projected changes in temperature will cause heat and poor air quality, factors underlying heart and respiratory conditions.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has predicted that global temperature will likely increase 1.5oC between the 2030s and 2050s, and global extreme heat events will dramatically increase. It means that near future, mosquitoes will bite less as they become more active in hot.
The population where is tropical and hot weather will spread malaria and the other insect-borne human diseases. Despite that experts know how to treat malaria regarding vaccines, DDT ( dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) spray, Chloroquine, and primaquine drugs, science can’t predict the association between climate change and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). There is a lack of published reports on the effects of decadal climate change, and no one knows the impacts can be negative, positive, or neutral.
Another area where climate change is expected to take a toll is vaccination. Not every country can refrigerate vaccines between 350F and 460F; they don’t have the full-fledged infrastructure to deal with transportation through a cold supply chain. Warmer temperatures will make it more difficult to transport because in uncertain conditions, and a vaccine can become ineffective.
Overpopulation
More people means more demand for oil, gas, and other fuels whose consumption increases. Householders use solid fuels as the primary energy source for food preparation and heating. It increases mortality from pneumonia and other acute lower respiratory diseases among children and heart diseases and lung cancer among adults.
Overpopulation is associated with negative environmental and economic consequences, destruction of green cover, and water pollution.
The growing population is linked with a large number of migrations in the context of industrialization. The latter will lead to environmental degradation and increase the negative impact of polluted air, water and noise. Added to all this are climate migrants, vulnerable communities forced from their homes by disasters, and requested financial support.
What is the solution?
Today’s decision-makers should advocate more to invest in global immunization programs, which will mitigate the impact of climate change on global health. It is essential to take care of the new generation and get vaccinated on time to have a defense system to deal with the diseases.
