Question

Question 6

6. “An environmental determinant of health can be considered to be any external agent (e.g. biological, chemical, physical, social or cultural) that can influence health status” (Fleming & Tenkate, 2015).

Climate change is an important environmental determinant of health. Discuss how this environmental determinant impacts on individual and population health. Use examples, statistics and diagrams to support your arguments.

Answer 1

CLIMATE CHANGE IN INDIVIDUAL HEALTH:

• Incresed heat can cause heatstroke and incresed body temperature and fatigue.
• Increased cold can cause Frost bite .
• Poor air quality can cause increased allergy , asthma and respiratory diseases.
• It will lead to reduced food and water quality leading to infections diseases like viral and bacterial like Lyme diseases.
• Changes in infectious disease pattern.
• Change in climate can affect mental state of a person causing anxiety , depression , psychosis.

CLIMATE CHANGE IN POPULATION HEALTH:

• Climate change causes decreased food production causing poverty.
• Housing and infrastructure changes can cause people to migrate .
• Increased global warming can cause incresed temperature .
• Consumption pattern of people gets changed .
• Increased risk of flood and diasters causing people deaths.
• Increase in death due to heat stress.
• Increase in people exposed to vector borne disease like malaria and cholera etc .
• Decreased water availability leading to water scarcity.
• Climate change leading to effects of urbanisation.

Example - weather and climate affect the survival , distribution and behaviour of mosquito , ticks , fleas etc.

STATISTICS - warming of 2-3 degree can lead to increase in people getting exposed to malaria by 5%.

It also can increase diarrhoea burden by 10% by 2030.

Diasters cause 60000 deaths annually around the world .

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