{"id":1365,"date":"2024-06-08T16:13:45","date_gmt":"2024-06-08T16:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nepalinewshub.com\/?p=1365"},"modified":"2024-06-08T16:13:45","modified_gmt":"2024-06-08T16:13:45","slug":"climate-crisis-creates-a-health-crisis-who-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nepalinewshub.com\/?p=1365","title":{"rendered":"Climate crisis creates a health crisis, WHO reports"},"content":{"rendered":"

GENEVA :<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>Scientific evidence documented in a series of articles presented by the World Health Organization this week highlights the harmful impact of climate change at key stages of the human life cycle.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese provide important scientific evidence on how the health of pregnant women, newborns, children, adolescents, and older people is affected by air pollution and different climate hazards, including wildfires, flooding, and extreme heat,\u201d Anayda Portela, director of the WHO\u2019s department of maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and aging, said at a briefing Friday for journalists in Geneva.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis evidence is critically important, because it shows the leading health risks for each of these groups for these different climate events,\u201d Portela said.<\/p>\n

She noted that the collection of articles published in the Journal of Global Health shows that climate-related health risks \u201chave been crucially underestimated\u201d for younger and older people and during pregnancy, \u201cwith serious, often life-threatening implications.\u201d<\/p>\n

The studies find that climate-related natural hazards have some \u201cserious mental and physical health impacts\u201d in pregnancy, and for younger and older people.<\/p>\n

For example, the authors note that preterm births, which are now the leading cause of childhood deaths, \u201cincrease during heatwaves, while older people are more likely to suffer heart attacks or respiratory distress.\u201d<\/p>\n

They report that heatwaves also \u201caffect cognitive function and therefore learning for children and adolescents.\u201d<\/p>\n

The World Meteorological Organization\u2019s State of Global Climate report confirms 2023 as the hottest year on record and predicts that global temperatures over \u201cthe entire five-year 2024-2028 period will exceed 1.5 degrees centigrade above the pre-industrial era,\u201d which scientists warn could lead to rapid and irreversible changes in the climate.<\/p>\n

According to the World Health Organization, between 2030 and 2050, climate change is projected to cause approximately \u201c250,000 additional deaths per year from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Portela also warned that air pollution increases the likelihood of high blood pressure during pregnancy, low birth weight, preterm birth, and negative impacts on fetal brain and lung development.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt raises the risk of respiratory illness among children and older people,\u201d she said, adding that they also face greater risks of \u201ccancer, cardiovascular disease, and pneumonia.\u201d<\/p>\n

The studies detail the many noxious effects on mental and physical well-being from climate-related natural disasters, including flooding and drought, as well as wildfires, which have been shown to increase respiratory disorders and cardiovascular mortality rates for older people.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is an urgent need to mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, to build climate resilience, and to take specific actions that protect health at these various life stages,\u201d Portela said.<\/p>\n

The authors of the reports note that \u201cfew climate adaptation measures are tailored for the specific needs of women, infants, children, and adolescents,\u201d as well as older people who may have mobility and cognitive constraints.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the WHO urges governments to prioritize climate change as a health issue, pointing out several specific actions they can take to promote and protect health at different life stages.<\/p>\n

For example, this could include flexibility around work hours, preparing childcare and educational systems for extreme weather events and rising temperatures, and informing people and communities about various measures that can protect vulnerable people during heatwaves and periods of worsening air pollution. VOA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GENEVA :\u00a0Scientific evidence documented in a series of articles presented by the World Health Organization this week highlights the harmful impact of climate change at key stages of the human life cycle. \u201cThese provide important scientific evidence on how the health of pregnant women, newborns, children, adolescents, and older people is affected by air pollution […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"2","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"1","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"0","show_popup_post":"0","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"no-crop","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"jnews_post_split":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalinewshub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalinewshub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalinewshub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalinewshub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalinewshub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1365"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nepalinewshub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1367,"href":"https:\/\/nepalinewshub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1365\/revisions\/1367"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalinewshub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalinewshub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalinewshub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalinewshub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}