ISB STUDY SHOWS CLIMATE EFFECTS ON HEALTH

A study led by Prof. Ashwini Chhatre, associate professor, public policy, Indian School of Business (ISB), that has been published in the ‘One Earth’ journal, throws light on the need to develop an integrated systems lens to characterise the collective health risks due to environmental changes caused by humans.

The study concludes that such a systems approach can facilitate policy development and decision making for South Asian and other developing countries, according to a news release.

Prof. Chhatre says. “Agricultural practices impact air quality and vice versa. In complex human-environment systems, these revolving multifaceted interactions must be factored into policymaking.”

Deepti Singh, assistant professor, University of Washington, one of the lead authors of the study, said, according to the release: “We’re offering a framework to assess the overall health impacts from multiple parts of earth’s natural systems, which are all changing at the same time due to human impacts.”

What the study found:

India is one of the most vulnerable regions to environment-related health hazards, owing to its high population density, high poverty rates, severe food insecurity, and over-reliance on agriculture.

Particulate matter pollution, especially in Punjab and Haryana, and industrial ozone pollution is responsible for reduction in crop productivity as well.

Health impacts under study included heat-related illnesses (exhaustion, heat strokes and cardiovascular events); pollution-related illnesses (asthma, lung cancer, chronic pulmonary diseases) and nutrition-related illnesses (anaemia in women, iron and zinc deficiency).