In a sign of the growing health impact of climate change, about 3.45 lakh people over the age of 65 died of heat-related causes in 2019, an increase of 80-6 percent of the 2000-05 average. And it was India, along with Brazil, that reported the largest absolute increase in heat-related mortality between 2018 and 2019, according to the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change report, 2021.
The Lancet report measures heat vulnerability through an index (0-100) that measures the proportion of total people living in urban areas and those over the age of 65 with the prevalence of chronic respiratory disease, heart disease and diabetes. Combines data on ratios.
The likelihood of India being hit by extreme heat in 2019 was around 31 on the index, which is 15 per cent higher than in the 1990s.
Although heat-related mortality has decreased between 2018 and 2019 in the WHO European region (due to fewer attributable deaths in countries such as Germany, Russia and the UK), the region is still the most affected, with approximately 1.08 lakh deaths due to heat. The reason has happened. Exposure in 2019
Rising temperatures have also affected work and productivity, especially in India. In an increasing trend since at least 1990, 295 billion hours of potential work were lost worldwide in 2020 due to heat exposure – the equivalent of 88 working hours per employed person. In this group, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India suffered the most (2·5-3 times the world average and equal to 216-261 hours per employed person in 2020).
food fallout
In 2020, up to 19 percent of the global land surface was affected by extreme drought in any given month, a value that did not exceed 13 percent between 1950 and 1999. Rising temperatures shorten the time plants reach maturity, which means smaller yields and an increased stress on our food systems. Compared to the 1981-2010 level, crop yield potential decreased by 6 percent in maize, 3 percent in wheat and 1.8 percent in rice. The mean sea surface temperature has increased in the territorial waters of coastal countries by about 70% (95 out of 136) compared to 2003–2005. This reflects a growing threat to their seafood security. Worldwide, 3.3 billion people depend on seafood.
According to the report, India is one of the five countries with the highest risk of vulnerable populations in the last five years. During 2016-2020, people over 65 years old had an average of 444 million more days of heatwave exposure annually compared to the 1986-2005 baseline. India experienced over 113 billion hours of potential labor in 2020, which means an increase of 82% compared to the 1990-1994 average.
Professor Dilip Mavalankar, Head, Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar said: Indian Express That there is a need to track all-cause mortality rather than heat-related mortality. “Exposure can trigger indirect heat-related deaths in older persons with co-morbidities. Hence we need to track all causes of mortality as well,” Prof Mavalankar said.
This year’s data shows that rapid increases in the risk of heatwaves and wildfires, droughts, changes in suitability for infectious diseases and rising sea levels—along with insufficient adaptation measures—are affecting people’s health in all countries. doing damage.
The data also measured the effect of heatwaves on people’s mental health by analyzing more than six billion tweets over five years from Twitter users around the world. They found a 155% increase in negative expressions during the heatwave in 2020 relative to the 2015-2019 average.
While the world’s attention is drawn to the ongoing acute health covid crisis, the health effects of human-induced climate change continue to increase. Climate change contributed to unusually high temperatures in the UK and Siberia during 2020; A record-breaking heat wave affected populations in the Pacific Northwest regions of the United States and Canada in June 2021, causing more than 1000 deaths (a number expected to increase);
According to the report, health care systems are not prepared for current and future climate-induced health shocks. In 2021, only 45 (49%) of 91 countries reported having carried out climate change and health vulnerability and adaptation assessments. Of those 45 countries in the analysis, only 8 reported that their assessment of the effects of climate change on the health of their citizens had affected the allocation of human and financial resources. The survey found that 69% of the countries analyzed reported that inadequate funding was a barrier to implementing these plans.
The Lancet countdown report represents a consensus of researchers from 38 academic institutions and United Nations agencies. The 2021 report coincides with the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26), which calls on countries to realize the Paris Agreement’s ambition to maintain global average temperature rise by 1 5°C. facing pressure. The report shows that the current COVID-19 Recovery plans are not compatible with the Paris Agreement and will therefore have long-term health implications.
The 44 indicators in the 2021 report also highlight the unabated increase in the health impacts of climate change. This includes the potential for outbreaks of dengue, chikungunya and zika Which is the fastest growing among countries with very high Human Development Index including European countries. Suitability for malaria infection is increasing in cold highland regions of countries with low Human Development Index. Northern Europe and the surrounding coasts of the Americas are becoming more favorable for bacteria that cause gastroenteritis, severe wound infections, and sepsis. The same dynamic in resource-limited countries is jeopardizing decades of progress toward controlling or eliminating these diseases.
569.6 million people live less than five meters above current sea level, which could face an increased risk of flooding, more intense storms, and salinization of soil and water. Many of these people may be forced to leave these areas permanently and migrate further inland.
“This is our sixth report tracking progress on health and climate change, and unfortunately we are still not seeing the quick change we need,” said Maria Romanello, lead author of the Lancet Countdown report. There has been a very modest improvement in trends in emissions, renewable energy and tackling pollution. This year we saw people suffering from intense heat waves, deadly floods and wildfires. These are dire warnings that every day we face the challenges of climate change. If you delay your response, the situation becomes more serious.
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