Climate Change and Its Impact on India’s Health
There is currently evidence of climate change all over the world.Globally, communities are changing as a result of unpredictable weather patterns, rising ocean levels, and melting ice sheets. Climate change is currently having an impact on India’s economy, agricultural production, wildlife, and access to clean water. These flaws do, however, come with a great opportunity for change thanks to India.
There won’t be a fair distribution of the consequences of climate change on human health across the globe. There is evidence that the growing threats to the security of public health are caused by environmental change. It is assuming a more prominent position on the global agenda.
Longer time scales are involved in climate change. Global temperature changes have historically occurred naturally over centuries or millennia as a result of continental drift, various galactic cycles, fluctuations in the sun’s energy output, and volcanic activity. It has been increasingly clear over the past few decades that human activities alter the composition of the atmosphere, resulting in a shift in the world’s climate.
By increasing the atmospheric concentration of energy-trapping gases like ozone-depleting compounds, human activities change the climate of the planet by enhancing the “greenhouse effect,” a phenomenon that keeps the Earth habitable. These GHGs primarily consist of carbon dioxide, which is typically produced by burning fossil fuels and burning wood, as well as other heat-trapping gases such as methane (produced by oil extraction, intensive agriculture, and animal husbandry), nitrous oxide, and different synthetic hcfcs.
Ourhealth may appear to be usually correlated with rational behaviour, heredity, occupation, local environment, and accessibility to medical care, but sustained population health requires the biosphere’s life-sustaining services. All animal populations depend on the availability of food and water, independence, the absence of excessive infectious disease, and the physical security and comfort provided by climatic stability. This life support relies on the global climate system. All these factors will most likely be impacted by a changing climate, which will have a significant effect on human health and wellbeing.
Thermal stress, overflowing, and hurricanes are just a few examples of how climate change directly affects human health. Disease vectors like mosquitoes, water-borne pathogens, air quality, and the availability and quality of food and water are indirect effects of climate change. As a result, the continuous efforts to safeguard human health are now faced with a new challenge from global climate change.
India should be concerned since exposure, sensitivity, and adaptation ability are all impacted by climate change. India is a massive, rapidly growing country with the third-largest ice mass in the world, the Great Himalayas, in the north, and a densely populated seashore in the south.
Nearly 700 million of its one billion inhabitants live in rural regions and are directly dependent on resources like water, biodiversity, mangroves, coastal zones, and grasslands, as well as climate-sensitive industries like agriculture, forestry, and fishing. Furthermore, the allowable limit for pastoral nomads, woodland dwellers, and dryland farmers is very low.
Both socioeconomic systems and natural ecosystems will likely be impacted by climate change.
The global burden of disease is already being impacted by climate change, and this impact is expected to increase in the coming years. During the 1990s, there were around 600,000 deaths worldwide as a result of climate-related catastrophes, with over 95% of these deaths occurring in developing nations.
There won’t be a universal feeling of how climate change will affect human health. Populations in developing countries are seen as particularly vulnerable, especially in small island nations; desert and high mountain zones; and densely populated coastal regions.
The degree to which climate change and its natural consequences are exposed to the populace, as well as how sensitively they are exposed, determines the influence on human health and the capacity of impacted populations and systems to adapt. While mitigation can lower vulnerability to climate change, including its rate and extent, adaptation can lessen sensitivity to climate change.
Together, adaptation and mitigation can significantly lower the danger of climate change.
Although climate change adaptation has received a lot of attention recently, it is still unknown whether or not some tactics for improving public health systems are actually beneficial.
At the behavioural, physiological, social, institutional, and organisational levels, adaptation to climate change will be crucial.
To take advantage of ongoing adjustments to produce more effective public health responses to climate change consequences, particularly for underserved rural areas where access to health care is already severely constrained under existing policy, it will be necessary to establish a foundational understanding of the regionally unique demographic, social, and ecological determinants of health. The population’s age structure, socioeconomic profile, baseline prevalence of climate-sensitive diseases, public awareness of risk, the built environment, existing infrastructure, accessible public health services, and uncontrolled responses to climate impacts on health that households and communities might undertake independently must all be taken into account when developing public health responses.
The claimed links between climate variability and human health show a wide range. It is crucial to create a thorough classification of climate change and its related health effects across the range of environments and populations that are expected to be impacted. Studies focused on Indian climates and populations will best advance our understanding of how climate change affects health in India.
India and other developing nations have a great chance to set the direction for future policies relating to climate change adaptation and sustainable development. Still, managing the complex issues pertaining to climate change and human health will require the united efforts of governments and scientists globally.
