World Health Day Warns on Health Risks Carried by Global Warming

By Anna Boyd
13:40, April 7th 2008
101 votes
Vote this story
World Health Day Warns on Health Risks Carried by Global Warming

This year’s World Health Day (April 7) highlights the idea that global warming carries more health risks now than ever and the situation is getting worse, as weather experts forecast raised temperature for the years to come.

The World Health Organization has already warned that heavy rains and warmer temperatures facilitate the spread of germs such as bacteria and viruses.

"The health impacts of climate change are already evident in different ways: more people are dying from excessive heat than before, changes are occurring in the incidence of vector-borne diseases, and the pattern of natural disasters is altering," says the WHO.

At least 150,000 more people are dying each year of malaria, diarrhea, malnutrition and floods, all of which can be traced to climate change, according to Shigery Omi, the head of the WHO’s Western Pacific office. More than half of those deaths register in Asia, Omi said, according to Reuters.

“Malaria-carrying mosquitos are now found in areas where there was no malaria before. For dengue, there are many other factors responsible for the rise of the mosquitos. But I am sure that climate change is certainly playing one of the many roles, that much we can say,” Omi said.

It is already a fact that global warming is happening because the earth’s atmosphere is becoming overloaded with human-created “greenhouse gases,” carbon dioxide and methane. "Scientists have established that the changes in global climate being experienced by the world today are, in all likelihood, due to over a century of indiscriminate pumping of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere by developed countries in their pursuit of economic development," says Dr Chukwumerije Okereke, a senior researcher from the University of East Anglia's Centre for Climate Change Research.

According to WHO Director- General Dr. Margaret Chan, continuing change will affect some of the most fundamental determinants of health: food, air and water. Also, malnutrition, lack of access to basic sanitation including access to safe drinking water, and pollution are known factors to aggravate the risk to respiratory disease including TB.

Only “through increased collaboration, the global community will be better prepared to cope with climate-related health challenges worldwide,” WHO warns on World Health Day. It is a day to mark and remind us all to contribute in developing an improved strategy for an early solution to this global warming and the risk associated to human health due to its effects.

"The dialogue on global warming and related health challenges aims to better prepare countries to strengthen surveillance and control of infectious diseases, as well as to ensure safer use of diminishing water supplies and promote better coordination in emergencies," says the WHO.



© 2007 - 2008 - eFluxMedia
dotclear

Other News in

CDC Explains Heparin Fiasco

CDC Explains Heparin Fiasco

Earlier this year, the medical world was taken over by a generalized state of panic, as it was revealed that vials of heparin were contaminated with substances such as oversulfated chondroitin...

Cleveland Clinic To Release Staff-Companies Relationship Reports

Cleveland Clinic To Release Staff-Companies Relationship Reports

Because of some recent scandals, the Cleveland Clinic has announced that they are planning to release a report regarding the business relationship between any member of its 1,800 staff of doctors and...

State Health Rankings – Louisiana Last, Vermont First

State Health Rankings – Louisiana Last, Vermont First

The health of Americans has recently been under close scrutiny in a study that analyzed health risks state by state. The report is called America’s Health Rankings, and it was published as a result...

Cleveland Clinic Ready to Disclose Financial Ties between Doctors and Drug Companies

Following the scandals around the financial ties between doctors and drug companies, the Cleveland Clinic is among the firsts to announce the beginning of the process of disclosing the business...

Insurers Group Backs Universal Health Care

Insurers Group Backs Universal Health Care

America’s Health Insurance Plans, a trade group representing companies that insure more than 200 million people in the United States, offered its own universal-coverage proposal that calls for...

dotclear
Latest videos in Health
Zimbabwe's cholera outbreak...
Drugmakers' recession...
Zimbabwe cholera death toll...
Doctor designs artificial...
Face to face best for baby...

dotclear
Health You are here: Health
» Science   » Health   
E-mail To A Friend Print RSS Text size: Decrease font size Increase font size
dotclear
dotclear
dotclear
Most Popular in Health
Generic Heart Drugs As Effective As Brand-Name CounterpartsGeneric Heart Drugs As Effective As Brand-Name Counterparts

» read full story
dotclear

Interested In This Topic?

News Alert will keep you informed. Find out more.
dotclear
Photos Gallery
dotclear
Today's Latest News
Fertility Patients In A QuandaryFertility Patients In A Quandary

» read full story
dotclear