Healthy Environments, Disease Healthy Children: Commitment For Action

By altering weather patterns and disturbing ecosystems, climate change has signifi cant implications for human health. Many of the main global killers of children, including malaria, diarrhoea and malnutrition, are sensitive to climatic conditions such as fl ooding.10 The effects of global climate change are likely to be most pronounced in those areas bordering current disease transmission zones.11 Temperate countries including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan have lately seen evidence of a resurgence of malaria. In addition, factors that play a role in climate change, such as emissions from vehicles and factories, signifi cantly harm children’s health. Deaths from asthma, which is the most common chronic disease among children, are expected to increase by nearly 20 per cent by 2016 unless urgent action is taken.12 Since many aspects of the physiology and metabolism of children differ markedly from those of adults, some of the health impacts of climate change are also likely to differ.

Water Parched, cracked earth cannot nourish a child. When an already impoverished nation experiences drought, its ramifi cations are severe and far-reaching: barren fi elds, dying cattle, skeletal children, empty classrooms. Throughout the globe, a decline in global freshwater resources profoundly threatens health and livelihoods. Increasing contamination, over-pumping of aquifers and degradation of freshwater catchment areas is exacerbating an already precarious situation.13 Fierce competition for a shrinking water supply has resulted in over-extraction for industry and agriculture, falling groundwater levels and failing domestic water sources. At the same time, pollution from industry, agriculture and improper management of human waste threatens previously safe water sources. In already dry regions such as North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean, climate change is expected to exacerbate the decline in water quality and quantity.14 Careful management of water and sanitation services is key. New groundwater sources may have to be developed with the anticipated behaviour of aquifers in mind, and new methods and technologies should be developed to safely exploit and protect water resources. Water recycling and reuse may become not only more cost-effective, but imperative. Protecting and managing the water environment is an enormous task, requiring commitment, effective monitoring, changing practices, and specifi c interventions at regional, national, intermediate and community levels.