Ahead of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP27, which is scheduled to be held in Egypt next week , medical journal The Lancet released a report, The Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: health at the mercy of fossil fuels An India factsheet based on the report, reveals alarming numbers: heat-related deaths increased by 55% over the last 20-odd years, the number of months suitable for dengue transmission has been rising, reaching 5.6 months each year, and in 2020, over 330,000 people died in India due to exposure to particulate matter from fossil fuel combustion. And these are only some of the health impacts brought about by climate change.
For years now, experts have been warning of what climate events can do to disease patterns, to food security and nutrition levels, to maternal and child health and to mental health too. India is already burdened with communicable diseases, the increasing incidence of non-communicable diseases, and now faces the challenges of climate change to public health in a healthcare system that has already seen its limits stretched during the COVID-19 pandemic. So how exactly do increased warming and other climate change effects play out on our health? How is our country placed to meet these challenges? And what can be done, at a policy and personal level to help reduce the impact of climate change on our health?
Guest: Poornima Prabhakaran, Director , Centre for Environmental Health at Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI)
Host: Zubeda Hamid
Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian
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