EFFECTS OF CHANGING CLIMATE ON HUMAN HEALTH IN INDIA

Dr.Keyur M Nayak Associate Professor Laxmi Institute of Management, Sarigam Email:Keyurdhuya@gmail.com Mobile: 91-9925006051.

Mr Shyamsunder Singh Assistant Professor Laxmi Institute of Management, Sarigam Email: Shyamsundersingh1@gmail.com Mobile: 91-96241-16709

Abstract According to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization1 (UNIDO), climate change is likely to have a greater impact on India compared to other countries similarly positioned, on account of the unique combination of its geography, diverse population characteristics and extremely high carbon-related energy dependence. The question is, how will the changing climate affect our health? Climate change can have both direct and indirect human health impacts. Indirect impacts arise from changes in temperature patterns, which may disturb natural ecosystems, change the ecology of infectious diseases, harm agriculture and fresh water supplies, exacerbate air pollution levels, and cause large-scale reorganization of plant and animal communities. Extreme high air temperatures can kill directly. Heat waves directly contribute to deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, especially among the elderly people. Daily wage earners such as laborers and rickshaw pullers are at risk. Also persons living in informal structures may be more exposed to high temperatures. The increase of Chloro Fluoro Carbons in the atmosphere, leading to global warming will increase UV radiation in the atmosphere. Leprosy might be increased by greater exposure to UV

The Hindu News Paper, September 5, 2008.

light. The UV radiation affects the immune system of the skin and hence there might be an increased number of cases of skin cancer. Acid rain also releases aluminum and cadmium. Cadmium can cause kidney disorders, besides accumulating in the outer layer of the kidney, causing wounds. Aluminum on the other hand, causes problems for kidney patients. In dialysis- the process of purifying the blood when the kidneys malfunction- it enters the blood stream directly without first having passed the body's normal protective barriers. This may cause skeletal and brain damage. It may also cause Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. This research paper is based on primary data collected from 200 doctors in the state of Gujarat using structured questionnaire, and also based on secondary data collected from various news papers, journals, magazines and websites. The primary data had been collected from the respondents using personal interview method which gave immense help to draw meaningful conclusions and suggestions. Keywords: Acid Rain, Natural Ecosystems, Heat Waves, Leprosy, Immune System

EFFECTS OF CHANGING CLIMATE ON HUMAN HEALTH IN INDIA

Dr.Keyur M Nayak Associate Professor Laxmi Institute of Management, Sarigam Email:Keyurdhuya@gmail.com Mobile: 91-9925006051.

INTRODUCTION According to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization2 (UNIDO), climate change is likely to have a greater impact on India compared to other countries similarly positioned, on account of the unique combination of its geography, diverse population characteristics and extremely high carbon-related energy dependence. The question is, how will the changing climate affect our health? Climate change can have both direct and indirect human health impacts. Indirect impacts arise from changes in temperature patterns, which may disturb natural ecosystems, change the ecology of infectious diseases, harm agriculture and fresh water supplies, exacerbate air pollution levels, and cause large-scale reorganization of plant and animal communities. Extreme high air temperatures can kill directly. Heat waves directly contribute to deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, especially among the elderly people. Daily wage earners such as laborers and rickshaw pullers are at risk. Also persons living in informal structures may be more exposed to high temperatures. The increase of Chloro Fluoro Carbons in the atmosphere, leading to global warming will increase UV radiation in the atmosphere. Leprosy might be increased by greater exposure to UV light. The UV radiation affects the immune system of the skin and hence there might be an increased number of cases of skin cancer. Acid rain also releases aluminum and cadmium. Cadmium can cause kidney disorders, besides accumulating in the outer layer of the kidney, causing wounds. Aluminum on the other hand,
2

The Hindu News Paper, September 5, 2008.

causes problems for kidney patients. In dialysis- the process of purifying the blood when the kidneys malfunction- it enters the blood stream directly without first having passed the body's normal protective barriers. This may cause skeletal and brain damage. It may also cause Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. This research paper is based on primary data collected from 200 doctors in the state of Gujarat using structured questionnaire, and also based on secondary data collected from various news papers, journals, magazines and websites. The primary data had been collected from the respondents using personal interview method which gave immense help to draw meaningful conclusions and suggestions. REVIEW OF LITERATURE The evidence for anthropogenic climate change is now clear and convincing. The Earths surface has warmed by more than 0.8 C over the past century and by approximately 0.6 C in the past three decades.1 This warming has been linked to more extreme weather conditions such as intense floods and droughts, heavier and more frequent storms, and a possible increase in frequency and intensity of the El Nio Southern Oscillation. These changes are largely caused by human activities, mainly the burning of fossil fuels releasing carbon dioxide (CO2) that traps heat within the atmosphere. These CO2 emissions continue to rise, and climate models project the average surface temperature will rise by 1.1 C to 6.4 C over the 21st century.2 Since 1990, WHO has published a series of reports on climate change and has participated in review processes such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. These activities have outlined four key characteristics of the health risks generated by a warming and a more variable climate. First, these hazards are diverse, global and probably irreversible over human time scales. They range from increased risks of extreme weather, such as fatal heat waves, floods and storms, to less dramatic but potentially more serious effects on infectious disease dynamics, shifts to long-term drought conditions in many regions, melting of glaciers that supply freshwater to large population centers, and sea level increases leading to salination of sources of agriculture and drinking water. Second, the health impacts of climate change are potentially huge. Many of the most important global killers are highly sensitive to climatic conditions. Malaria, diarrhoea and protein-energy malnutrition together cause more than 3 million deaths each year.3 Third, these risks are inequitable, in that the greenhouse gases that cause climate change originate mainly

from developed countries, but the health risks are concentrated in the poorest nations, which have contributed least to the problem.4 Finally, many of the projected impacts on health are avoidable, through a combination of public health interventions in the short term, support for adaptation measures in health-related sectors such as agriculture and water management, and a long-term strategy to reduce human impacts on climate. Threats to health are often cited to justify actions to mitigate or adapt to climate change; for example, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annans 2006 speech in Nairobi.5 For all the attention that these issues receive, however, a comprehensive strategy to support a public health response is conspicuously lacking. This strategy is urgently needed, both because the health community has a duty to counter emerging threats, and because increased attention to climate change offers opportunities to focus on the most disadvantaged populations current needs. For example, the international community has agreed on the principle of a global climate change adaptation fund, funded by a 2% levy on a multibillion-dollar Clean Development Mechanism.6 However, this opportunity to strengthen public health can be seized only if the health sector knows what it should do differently because of climate change. The development of a comprehensive strategy will take time, but some essential principles are already clear. A global problem requires a strategy of international dimensions that can translate into regional and local actions. Just as climate changes underlying causes are global, its health implications do not respect national boundaries. Impacts in one location, such as infectious disease epidemics or population displacements caused by droughts or rising sea levels, quickly spread across national borders. Coordinated investments in preventive measures therefore contribute to the global public good of reducing the risk of health emergencies. The challenge is simplified somewhat by the fact that climate change is expected to lead mainly to changes in existing health issues rather than to the emergence of new and unfamiliar diseases. An important guiding principle therefore is to increase the priority given to currently important health burdens that are likely to be worsened by climate change. Such a no regrets strategy will bring important public health benefits under any plausible future climate conditions. Adaptation to climate change is essentially a matter of basic public health protection. The challenges of rapid environmental, demographic and social changes all call for greater emphasis on disease prevention, providing a better balance with the current focus on curative and reactive measures. The necessary

preventive actions to deal with most climate-sensitive diseases are already quite clear. Climate change and other environmental stresses should help to refocus political and financial commitments to implement these measures. One emerging environmental health threat is the decline in global freshwater resources, caused mainly by increasing rates of water extraction and contamination. Climate change is expected to worsen this decline in water quality and quantity, particularly in already dry regions such as the eastern Mediterranean and north Africa. Scaling up water and sanitation services and providing point-of-use disinfection would reduce the current burden of disease and ameliorate the health impacts of decreasing water supplies. Such interventions already have a very high costbenefit ratio;7 the threat of climate change makes these preventive health measures an even wiser investment. As water stresses intensify, governments could protect health by strengthening and enforcing their regulatory frameworks to ensure the safe use of new water sources that will become increasingly important: wastewater, excreta and greywater in agriculture and aquaculture.8 The phenomenon of rain is caused when heat from the Sun's rays on the surface of the seas, lakes and rivers induces evaporation. The water vapour formed in the process rises to a height where it condenses into moisture. If ambient conditions prevail it comes down as rain. But in the case of acid rain, water vapours reach the atmosphere, condense, and react with atmospheric gases like SO2 and NOx. When it rains, these atmospheric pollutants are deposited on the soil, vegetation, surface water or reservoirs. The deposition ultimately results in damage because of the acidity of the pollutants. Acidic rainwater liberates mercury from the soil which can hinder brain development during the foetal stage. Fisheating birds and humans acquire mercury by eating fish with high levels of the metal in them. The fish in turn ingest microorganisms, which consume mercury released by acid rain in the water. Acid rain also releases aluminum and cadmium. Cadmium can cause kidney disorders, besides accumulating in the outer layer of the kidney, causing wounds. Aluminum on the other hand, causes problems for kidney patients. In dialysis- the process of purifying the blood when the kidneys malfunction- it enters the blood stream directly without first having passed the body's normal protective barriers. This may cause skeletal and brain damage. It may also cause Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.9

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The present research design is descriptive in nature and Primary Data had been collected from the doctors and scientist in the Valsad District of the Gujarat State of India. 25 Scientist and 15 doctors have been interviewed personally and they have been asked various questions to find out the effects of climate change on human health to draw meaningful conclusions. DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDING According to the opinion of various doctors and scientist in the region the following findings have been observed 1. Climate change has adverse consequences for health: as carbon goes up health goes down 2. Estimates around 150,000 deaths now occur in low-income countries each year due to climate change from four climate-sensitive health outcomes crop failure and malnutrition, malaria and flooding. 3. Many of the major killers such as diarrheal diseases, malnutrition, malaria and dengue are highly climate-sensitive and are expected to worsen as the climate changes. 4. Areas with weak health infrastructure mostly in developing countries will be the least able to cope without assistance to prepare and respond. 5. Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases through better transport, food and energy-use choices can result in improved health. 6. The overall health effects of a changing climate are likely to be overwhelmingly negative. Climate change affects the fundamental requirements for health clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food and secure shelter. 7. High temperatures also raise the levels of ozone and other pollutants in the air that exacerbate cardiovascular and respiratory disease. Urban air pollution causes about 1.2 million deaths every year. 8. Pollen and other aeroallergen levels are also higher in extreme heat. These can trigger asthma, which affects around 300 million people. Ongoing temperature increases are expected to increase this burden.

9. All populations will be affected by climate change, but some are more vulnerable than others. People living in small island developing states and other coastal regions, megacities, and mountainous and polar regions are particularly vulnerable. 10. Children in particular, children living in poor countries are among the most vulnerable to the resulting health risks and will be exposed longer to the health consequences. The health effects are also expected to be more severe for elderly people and people with infirmities or pre-existing medical conditions. Conclusions and Suggestions Conclusions Reducing green house gases emissions can be beneficial to health: as carbon goes down health goes up. The impact of climate change on water availability is likely to be one of the most significant for the health of populations. Higher temperatures are hastening rates of evaporation of surface water thereby reducing the availability of fresh water. Lack of fresh water compromises hygiene and hence increasing incidence of diarrheal disease. Rising temperatures, changing patterns of rainfall, and more frequent droughts and floods are projected to decrease crop yields in many developing countries causing shortages of food supplies. This could result in severe malnutrition and under nutrition, especially among children, in countries where large populations depend rain-fed farming at subsistence level. Suggestions 1. Promotion of the safe use of public transportation and active movement such as cycling or walking as alternatives to using private vehicles could reduce carbon dioxide emissions and improve health. 2. To raise awareness that climate change is a fundamental threat to human health. 3. Reliable and comprehensive assessments of risk vulnerabilities for exposed cities, and the dissemination of such information 4. Establishment of early warning systems and evacuation plans, including emergency preparedness and neighborhood response systems; improved efficiency of the water supply management

5. Improving health educational and institutional capacity in urban environment management. REFERENCES 1. Surface temperature analysis: analysis graphs and plots. NASA: Goddard Institute for Space Studies; 2007. 2. C Change. 2007: The physical science basis: summary for policymakers. Geneva: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change secretariat; 2007. 3. The world health report 2004: changing history. Geneva: WHO; 2004. 4. JA Patz, D Campbell-Lendrum, T Holloway, JA Foley. Impact of regional climate change on human health. Nature 2005; 438: 310-7. 5. KUN Annan. Secretary-generals address to the 2006 UN Climate Change Conference. Nairobi, 2006. 6. LM Bouwer, JCJH Aerts. Financing climate change adaptation. Disasters 2006; 30: 4963. 7. G Hutton, L Haller. Evaluation of the costs and benefits of water and sanitation improvements at the global level. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2004. 8. WHO guidelines for the safe use of wastewater, excreta and greywater - 3rd Edition. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2006.
9. Source: Anon 1998, Environmental Change and Human Health, in World Resources

1998-99, p 68