The Effects of Climate Change on the Health Sector, Research Paper Example

Climate change has several long-term and immediate impacts on human health determinants. Numerous potential human health effects correlate indirectly or directly with the global climate. Climate change mainly leads to the depletion of the ozone layer and is caused by human activities that include increased agriculture, land-use change, and the use of fossil. Increased greenhouse gases have resulted in increased warming of the earth’s surface and the atmosphere. The concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere results in a rise in surface temperature. These temperature changes have immense effects on human health, mainly on the ecosystem resulting in increased health burdens.

The leading impacts of climate change in developing countries include water-borne diseases, lower water availability, loss of livestock, crop failure, rising sea levels, and prolonged droughts. Landslides, drought, and floods in developing countries have resulted in increased disease transmission, food shortages, and internal displacement. In this case, drought has led to inadequate food to feed the large populations leading to malnutrition. Most of the people affected by global climate change in a developing country are those who highly depend on the ecosystem for their survival (“Climate Change and Health”). Proof shows that environmental change straightforwardly affects the dissemination and event of lack of healthy sustenance and human sicknesses. Changes in the spread and recurrence of irresistible sicknesses are a portion of the immense recorded likely results of environmental change. Environmental change has had a turn on the nearby and worldwide climate examples and this has prompted an expansion in ocean levels and this will keep on being the situation. Precipitation and average temperatures and variables such as humidity levels have been on the rise (“Climate Change and Health”). The changes have collectively led to a rise in the number of deaths, illnesses, and the number of injuries. Climate change is in a position of presenting analogous challenges to the health of society. The greatest challenge has affected countries that minimally contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.

Numerous components shape the effect of environmental change on the improvement of irresistible sicknesses as diarrheal, West Nile infection, Lyme illness, dengue fever, and intestinal sickness. Ecological factors, for example, land use can diminish or raise appropriateness encompassing factors prompting the constriction or spread of related illnesses. Travel and trade among other social-economic changes can facilitate reemerging or emerging infectious diseases. .The prevalence of several tropical diseases in human health is highly dependent on the local climate. Extreme heat has been linked to increased incidence of infectious diseases and loss of life (“Climate Change and Health”). Extreme weather conditions can destroy water supplies and shelter. Climate change can affect human well-being and health via several mechanisms. The risk of new diseases has been associated with survival and changes of pathogens in the surrounding. Factors that contribute to infectious agent adaptation are dynamic and complex (“Climate Change and Health”). Changes to the natural environment setting can have immense effects within the context of the vectors, pathogens and their host interacts, and this potentially affects water-borne or vector disease epidemiology. Vector-borne infections and diseases are sensitive to changes in the climate because precipitation and temperature changes can alter the development rates of the vectors. Due to this, anthropogenic climate change on vector-borne diseases remains debated. Water-borne and vector-borne diseases are the most influential climate-sensitive diseases. These include diarrhoeal, schistosomiasis, plaque, trypanosomiasis, fever, dengue, rift valley fever, and malaria. Mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue, rift valley fever, and malaria are part of the diseases that are most prone and sensitive to climate. Climate change is likely to impact the vector, intermediate or free-living stages of these pathogens. Climate change directly impacts and affects transmission rates.

Malaria has been described as the most prevalent vector-borne disease leading to high mortality and morbidity in most of these developing countries. The pattern and endemicity of malaria transmission vary from one location to the other depending on topography and climate. For instance, in Tanzania, malaria was common in the low-altitude areas of the country. However, with changes in vector-related, environmental and socio-economic factors the disease has become common in areas that were considered malaria-free such as the highlands. The expansion of malaria cases in Africa and especially in East Africa has been due to an increase in the ambient temperature. Warmer temperatures have been acting as a catalyst influencing the rate at which mosquitoes attain sexual maturity. Increased precipitation due to global warming has resulted in to increase in mosquito populations and breeding sites. There have been several studies linking climate change to malaria. This can be explained based on the fact that an increase in altitude results in a decline in temperature and the survival and development of the mosquito parasite and vector is dependent on the ambient temperature. A drop in temperature results in a drop in the risk of infection. Rift valley fever is defined as a climate-related disease. The disease is highly prevalent in East Africa and occurs mainly during periods of drought. Dengue fever is also associated with climate change and is the most prevalent arbovirus disease in the world. The disease is common in subtropics and the tropics and overpopulated areas with poor solid and water waste management systems.

The current century is being faced with increasing challenges to water and food security. Global climate change has been a threat to food security across the globe via its impact on health food, agriculture, and both the economic and sociodemographic systems. Other environmental changes that may lead to such impacts include; freshwater depletion, soil degradation, depletion of fisheries, and loss of pollinators. The current century is being faced with increasing challenges to water and food security. Global climate change has been a threat to food security across the globe via its impact on health food, agriculture, and both the economic and sociodemographic systems. Other environmental changes that may lead to such impacts include; freshwater depletion, soil degradation, depletion of fisheries, and loss of pollinators. These aspects are risk factors for the development of health issues. Global ecological change has caused rapid heatwaves. The prolonged heatwaves have had serious health effects on vulnerable conditions especially among the sick and the elderly. Increased heat waves have led to health effects such as heatstroke and hyperthermia. These conditions tend to be fatal if untreated. Due to soil degradation, there has been a loss of agricultural productivity. Global climate changes can lead to droughts that can make living conditions worse especially in Africa.

Global climate change has also been associated with asthma and other respiratory diseases. Individuals with heart problems are vulnerable to an increase in temperatures. Increased temperatures result in a rise in the ozone concentration, this can result in damage of the lung tissues and cause lung-related problems or asthma among patients. Increased global warming is also in a position of posing a threat to national security. Food shortages can result in resource conflicts which can lead to the emergence of war.

Unlike in developed countries that have the potential to control the effects of climate change, developing countries are affected severely and most especially in the health sector. Altogether, climatic change together with natural and human-made health stressors have a great influence on the health sector. Some of the existing health threats that a country faces will intensify with consideration of the climate (“Climate Impacts on Human Health | Climate Change Impacts US EPA”). Several climatic conditions account for the deterioration of human health and the first one is the temperature-related conditions. For instance, warm and hot temperatures will lead to hotter days and therefore a region will experience frequent and longer heatwaves. Such a change can cause an increase in heat-related deaths. Typically, the hot temperatures do not kill, but they lead to heatstroke, dehydration, respiratory and even cardiovascular diseases. Countries like Botswana, Iraq, and Algeria are frequent victims of such conditions.

Climatic changes have had a severe impact on the air quality. Generally, the climatic change affects the air we breathe both indoors and outdoors. Warm and hot temperatures contribute a lot to the deteriorating of the air we breathe. Health conditions as a result of poor air quality include asthma attacks, respiratory and even cardiovascular health effects. An example of a country that is greatly affected by asthma because of climatic change is Brazil. Brazil’s health sector has deteriorated concerning asthma because it is a chronic disease with high prevalence, morbidity, and mortality. In Brazil, many patients live with uncontrolled asthma, this has caused the impaired quality of life, and this has led to direct and indirect cost for the entire society (“Climate Impacts on Human Health | Climate Change Impacts | US EPA”).

Climatic changes have also brought about infectious diseases. Global warming which is the greatest contributor to climatic change has worsened human health conditions in tropical regions. In Africa, the rise in temperature translate into an increase in the mosquito population, therefore, there is a heightened risk of malaria and insect-borne infection. From a report delivered by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), 409,000 individuals passed on of malaria in 2019. Unfortunately, among these people, most of them were young children from sub-Saharan Africa. The reason why malaria is so lethal to young children is that they have not yet fully developed their immune systems. Also, pregnant women are at the risk of acquiring malaria because pregnancy decreases one’s immunity. From the number r of deaths recorded every year because of malaria, it is evident that malaria-endemic countries’ health sector is still far away from achieving an effective malaria control strategy.

While climatic change can happen naturally as a result of sun changes and the eruption of volcanos, human activities are also responsible for the changes. Shockingly, developing countries take the largest part in the emission of carbon dioxide, currently contributing to 63% of the total carbon dioxide emitted. Carbon dioxide causes weather extremities through heat-trapping. Also, water vapor and carbon dioxide have been named the core contributors to global warming. Apart from extreme heat, other countries experience extremely low temperatures, and these low temperatures are responsible for diseases like hypothermia. Hypothermia is a condition where the human body loses heat faster than it can produce, hypothermia causes brain damage and feeble legs. Another condition caused by extreme colds is frostbite, which is an injury to the body that causes loss of feeling to the injured part, basically, and it affects the nervous system of the body. The health sector’s condition for these developing countries is not up to standard because they lack the required capital to set up standard health equipment, and secondly, there is not enough medical personnel.

From the above analysis, it is clear that global climate change has had an immense impact on the health sector in developing countries. As a general wellbeing danger, worldwide environmental change can influence the soundness of human populaces unfavorably. Climate change has resulted in to increase in natural disasters such as flooding putting people at risk of water-borne diseases.  Climate change is also associated with malnutrition and food insecurity. The research paper has been able to describe climate change as the greatest threat to public health in developing countries. In conclusion, climate change can affect health outcomes and food utilization. Populations experiencing water scarcity are faced with decreased availability of safe drinking water and safe food. Both chronic and acute nutritional problems are associated with global climate changes. Effects of drought on health include micronutrient deficiencies, protein-energy malnutrition, undernutrition, and deaths.  Drought reduces dietary diversity resulting in an overall reduction in food consumption increasing the risk of acquiring and dying from nutrition-based infectious diseases.

Works Cited

“Climate Impacts on Human Health | Climate Change Impacts | US EPA.” The United States Environmental Protection Agency, 19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climate-impacts/climate-impacts-human-health_.html#:%7E:text=Climate%20change%20increases%20the%20risk,or%20liver%20and%20kidney%20damage. Accessed 17 Mar. 2021.

“Climate Change and Health.” World Health Organization, www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health#:%7E:text=Climate%20change%20affects%20the%20social,malaria%2C%20diarrhoea%20and%20heat%20stress.