Climate Change and Health

• “Every species has a climatic niche which is a set of temperature and precipitation conditions in the area where it lives and where it can survive”, (Wiens 2013)

• sustained population health requires the life supporting benefits of the ecosystem

• Climate stability is vital for food and water resources, freedom from infectious diseases, physical safety and comfort

• “Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO)

• Not biologically reductionist• Context matters• Complex relationship between health, culture,

and environment

Health

• “access to and control over the basic material and nonmaterial resources that sustain and promote life at a high level of satisfaction. Health is not some absolute state of (biological) being but an elastic concept that must be evaluated in a larger sociocultural (and environmental) context” (Baer and Singer 2008)

Climate Time Fames of Analysis

• Weather-short term events• Climate-long term patterns• Three intervals of time 1. Days—weather 2. Years-climate 3. Generations-climate variability/change

Other Concerns

• Increase in frequency of extreme weather events

• Nutritional scarcity (Changes in food and water supply)

• Changes/modifications in vector borne diseases

• 7 Billion people producing and consuming at an incredible rate

• Complex relationship between humans and the environment

• Data from 1993-2012• 530,000 people died• 15,000 events ; 2.5 trillion dollars

• There’s nothing ‘natural’ about health problems associated with climate change

• Pre-disaster social issues• Climate change is a ‘threat multiplier’— “it

magnifies and exacerbates existing social, economic, political, and environmental trends, problems, issues, tensions, and challenges”

• (Crate and Nuttal 2009)

• Studies of the health impact of climate change are in effect studies of society and culture

-prediction, prevention, response, coping, planning, resources, resources allocation, etc.

Vulnerability

• “degree to which geophysical, biological, socio-economic systems, cultural systems are susceptible to, and unable to cope with, adverse impacts of climate change” (IPCC 2007)

• Individual (group) Vulnerability -Poverty -Lack of education -Marginalization/discrimination -Disability

Social Determinants of Health (WHO)

• The social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age.

• They are shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources at global, national and local levels.

• They are responsible for health inequities - the unfair and avoidable differences in health status

Such as…………

• Individual life style factors• Social and community networks• General socio-economic, cultural, and

environmental conditions (Putnam and Galea 2008)

• Access to secure and stable resources (Grady and Goldblatt 2012)

Mel Brooks

• “It’s good to be King”!!!!!!

• If you want to live a long, prosperous, healthy life, try not to be born into poverty.

Potential Health Effects of Climate Change

Climate change:

• Weather extremes

• Sea level rise• Ecosystem

changes

HEAT Heat stress, cardiovascular failure

SEVERE WEATHER Injuries, fatalities

AIR POLLUTION Asthma, cardiovascular disease

ALLERGIES Respiratory allergies, poison ivy

VECTOR-BORNE DISEASES Malaria, dengue, hantavirus, encephalitis, Rift Valley fever

WATER-BORNE DISEASES Cholera, cryptosporidiosis, campylobacter, leptospirosis

WATER AND FOOD SUPPLY Malnutrition, diarrhea, harmful algal blooms

MENTAL HEALTH Anxiety, post-traumatic stress, depression, despair

ENVIRONMENTAL REFUGEES Forced migration, civil

conflict (Frumkin 2009)

With Warming; Vector borne diseases

• Acceleration of dissemination• Faster mutation, inability of humans to adapt• Rapid evolution, development• Increase in resistance strains• Increased virulence• Biologically diverse regions(ecosystems)-

dampen infectious disease transmission

Implications for Physical Therapy Practice

• Professional responsibility(all areas of practice)

• Civic responsibility• Political responsibility

References• Baer, H. and M. Singer (2008) Global Warming and the Political Economy

of Health; Emerging Crisis and Systemic Solutions, Left Coast Press.• Crate S. and M. Nuttall, eds. Anthropology and Climate Change

From Encounters to Actions (2009)• Frumkin, H. (2009) Emerging Health Threats of Climate Change, CDC The

Climate Change Project• Grady, M and P. Goldblatt, eds. (2012) “Addressing the social determinants

of health; the urban dimension and the role of local government”. WHO.• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007) 4th Annual Report• Putnam, S. and S. Galea (2008) “Epidemiology and the Macrosocial

Determinants of Health” Journal of Public Health Policy, 29(3):275-289.

References• World Health Organization Preamble to the Constitution of the World

Health Organization as adopted by the International Health Conference, New York, 19-22 June, 1946; signed on 22 July 1946 by the representatives of 61 States (Official Records of the World Health Organization, no. 2, p. 100) and entered into force on 7 April 1948.