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“Protecting health from climate change” puts health at
the centre of the global dialogue about this urgent issue. WHO is persuaded
that health has to be given much more attention, as it is primarily our
well being that is threatened by the effects of global warming and climate
change.
In South East Asia,
the main adverse health outcomes that are projected are;
1. Heat
stress, strokes and cardiovascular disorders;
2. Meeting
increasing energy demands by greater use of fossil fuels will add to the
number of respiratory disorders , such as asthma;
3. Injuries,
disability and drowning due to the increase in frequency and intensity of
extreme weather events;
4. Water-and
food-borne diseases due to more variable precipitation patterns that will
compromise the supply of freshwater, increase risks of water-borne diseases
like cholera and outbreaks of diarrhoeal
diseases.
5. Rising
temperatures and variable precipitation are likely to decrease the
production of staple foods in many of the poorest regions, increasing risks
of malnutrition ;
6. Warmer
temperatures and other parameters are likely to lengthen the seasonal and
geographical transmission of important vector-borne diseases such as dengue
and malaria and to alter their geographic range, potentially reaching
regions that lack either population immunity or a strong public health
infrastructure;
7. Psychological
stress: displacements of population and loss of livelihood will increase
psychosocial stress in the affected populations.
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