Children worst hit by global warming, finds Lancet study
NEW DELHI: If high carbon emissions and climate change continue at the current rate, a child born today will live in a world that is on average over 4˚C warmer by their 71st birthday, threatening their health at every stage of their lives, according to a new report that focuses on the effect of climate change on children’s health
Severe malnutrition, infectious diseases and heart diseases will increase as temperatures rise because of climate change, said The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change released on Thursday.
“Children are particularly vulnerable to the health risks of a changing climate. Their bodies and immune systems are still developing, leaving them more susceptible to disease and environmental pollutants”, said Dr Nick Watts, executive director of The Lancet Countdown, in a statement. As temperatures rise, crop yields will shrink and that will threaten food security and drive up food prices.
“Globally, as well as in this region, rising temperatures are going to affect the food and nutrition space. It’s not just the quantity of but also the quality of crop that is going to be affected, with the produce being low on nutrients. And India is a country already faced with severe malnutrition, and it is going to be worse,” said co-author Dr Poornima Prabhakaran, deputy director, centre for environmental health, Public Health Foundation of India.
With the rise in temperature, disease-causing microbes and vectors carrying them will find a conducive environment to grow and multiply also in areas with a colder climate, resulting in the spread of disease to newer areas.
“Children are among the most susceptible to diarrhoeal disease and experience the most severe effects of dengue fever. Trends in climate suitability for disease transmission are particularly concerning, with nine of the ten most suitable years for the transmission of dengue fever on record occurring since 2000. Similarly, since an early 1980s baseline, the number of days suitable for Vibrio (a pathogen responsible for part of the burden of diarrhoeal disease) has doubled, and global suitability for coastal Vibrio cholerae has increased by 9·9%,” said the report.
Exposure to heat waves will also bring in heat-related illness such as heat exhaustion, heat stroke and electrolyte imbalance that could prove fatal, especially for those with heart disease and for the elderly.
“With its huge population and high rates of healthcare inequality, poverty, and malnutrition, few countries are likely to suffer from the health effects of climate change as much as India. Diarrhoeal infections, a major cause of child mortality, will spread into new areas, whilst deadly heatwaves, similar to one in 2015 that killed thousands of people in
India, could soon become the norm,” said Prabhakaran.
Pursuing the Paris Agreement pathway to limit warming to well below 2˚C will allow a child born today to grow up in a world which reaches net-zero emissions by their 31st birthday—and secure a healthier future for coming generations, said experts.
“At the macro level, it is for the government to see how issues related to climate change are handled, but the healthcare sector and the scientific community must also gear up to address the challenge. There’s no choice; we will have to mobilize our resources to take care of our children. We have to remain prepared for what’s coming,” said Dr Vinod Paul, member of the government think tank Niti Aayog.
“All the countries have committed and it has to kick off next year. Energy policies have to be changed and there has to be a shift towards renewable sources of energy. Over the past two decades, the Government of India has launched many initiatives and programmes to address a variety of diseases and risk factors. But this report shows that the public health gains achieved over the past 50 years could soon be reversed by the changing climate,” Prabhakaran added.
The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change is a comprehensive yearly analysis tracking progress across 41 key indicators, demonstrating what action to meet Paris Agreement targets—or business as usual— means for human health.