Global scientific consensus tells us the world’s climate is changing day by day. These changes are creating some new health risks in communities across the World. Extreme weather changes, unhealthy air quality, and disease outbreaks are becoming more severe and more frequent, affecting more people in World. Changes to our climate mean our communities need to prepare for the health risks of extreme weather. Extreme heat can lead to Heatstroke, Heat exhaustion, Heat cramp, Dehydration, and Death. Anyone can be at risk. But some are more vulnerable, including, people with heart or lung conditions, pregnant women, older adults, children, athletes, and Outdoor workers. So how do we prepare for extreme weather changes? Communities can: establish cooling centers, plant trees to lower urban temperatures and educate residents to protect themselves and their loved ones such as drinking plenty of water and checking on older people and neighbors. A changing climate also means more frequent and more severe flooding and storms. That puts people at immediate risk of being injured or killed by debris, or floodwaters. After a severe flooding or storms event, possible health risks are contaminated food or drinking water by Bacteria, viruses, and toxic chemicals in floodwaters, fungus, and Difficulty accessing health care services, like emergency help, prescribed medications, and supplemental oxygen in these events, older people, people with disabilities, and lower-income households are more at risk. They may all have a harder time running away from a storm and may face more health problems if they can’t evacuate. To prepare, communities can: find out which neighborhoods, people, and resources are most at risk; upgrade infrastructures such as sanitary sewer systems and roads; and educate residents on how to stay safe during and after an extreme weather event such as avoiding driving in flooded areas. As average temperatures rise worldwide, air quality can also change. That looks like longer and stronger pollen seasons, which can trigger allergies and asthma attacks; Changing weather patterns and hotter temperatures, which can make air pollution worse by increasing the density of dangerous tiny particles; and more frequent droughts that can lead to wildfires, which release dangerous pollutants into the air. Children, people with asthma and respiratory conditions, young children, older adults, and people with compromised immune systems are more at risk of being infected. Work that can help communities includes collaborating with community partners to set up health-focused air quality alert systems and educating residents on how to check alerts to know when it’s safe to do exercise outside. Changes to our climate can also mean more risk of diseases spread by pests like mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, and rodents. With higher average temperatures, diseases transmitted by pests can multiply faster, spread to more places, and infect people over longer periods of time each year. Lyme disease, Zika, West Nile virus, Coronavirus and hantavirus are examples of the resulting health risks. People who spend most of their time outdoors in areas where pest-borne diseases are common are most at risk. Communities can prepare by creating systems to track and assess people's health effects and working with local partners on outreach strategies to help residents protect themselves, such as staying out of certain areas, using PPE, and using insect repellant. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is empowering health departments to prevent and adapt to the local health risks of a changing climate through the Climate-Ready States and Cities Initiative. CDCs Building Resilience Against Climate Effects framework helps health departments plan a coordinated community response. Using Building Resilience Against Climate Effects, communities are:
Identifying the range of climate impacts and the people, resources, and location most at risk
Quantifying the health problems that are associated with a changing climate
Assessing science-based interventions to address those health problems
Developing and overseeing community adaptation plans, and evaluating the process to learn more about what works.
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Conclusion
An effective response to climate change is essential to prevent illness, improve public health preparedness, and mitigate risk. Today climate change has a clear impact on our health. The government has recognized this and supports the health system to take immediate action to combat the effect of climate change to optimize economic, health and environmental outcomes.
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