Caribbean climate to get health check up

BRIDGETOWN, March (PAHO) - One may not readily think that there is a link between climate change and health but they can be related.

Studies from around the world show that climate and weather have a powerful impact on human life and health. The Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) will be examining the nature of this impact in the Caribbean at a conference and workshop to be held in Barbados May 21-25.

The conference and workshop, will be the first to deal with Climate Variability and Change and their Health Effects in the Caribbean. The meetings are being held by PAHO and the World Health Organisation (WHO), under the auspices of the Interagency Network on Climate and Human Health in collaboration with a number of partner agencies, to explore and inform key personnel on the potential impacts on human health resulting from dramatic changes in climate and weather.

“PAHO/WHO will not provide a 'cookbook’ for addressing these complex issues,” says Joan Aron, Technical Coordinator of the Conference/Workshop. “Rather, the Barbados conference and workshop will guide Caribbean countries on how to think about the importance of climate and environment in public health. This activity is a first step towards developing frameworks and partnerships at the national and regional levels to mitigate adverse health impacts of climate variability and climate change. Solutions will emerge through follow-on activities in the region,” she said.

One of the collaborating agencies, the Barbados-based Adaptation to Climate Change in the Caribbean (ACCC), says that changes in the climate can create suitable environment for new diseases to occur or for old and forgotten ones to re-emerge. “While there are those who would welcome a warmer climate, they are unlikely to welcome malaria and dengue,” said Leisa Perch of the ACCC.

The ACCC has a component to study the health impact of climate, as well as develop adaptation strategies. It says that increases in temperature can result in heat waves in the Tropics. Additionally, prolonged temperatures could see the emergence of heat-related illnesses or deaths not previously seen in this part of the world.

ACCC also says that warmer temperatures could worsen air pollution and increase the incidence of respiratory diseases such as asthma and hay fever. Higher temperatures could also contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone which damages the lung tissue, and create more amenable conditions for the spread of vector-borne, food-borne and water-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, and encephalitis, also water-and-food-borne diseases such as cholera, and salmonellosis.

Other direct impacts, identified by ACCC, are the over-crowding and cramped conditions caused by disasters such as flooding, storms, and hurricanes, an increase in the risk of malnutrition and communicable diseases.

There is open registration for the conference on May 21-22 (see www.pahocpc.org). The session topics will address climate and health aspects of infectious diseases, the marine environment, water resources, agriculture, natural disasters and adaptation for climate change. The proceedings of the conference will be prepared and distributed.

The keynote speakers are His Excellency Tuiloma Neroni Slade of Samoa, and Professor Tony McMichael of the Australian National University, Canberra. Ambassador Slade will provide the perspective of small island developing states. Professor Tony McMichael will provide the perspective of global public health.

Ambassador Slade is presently Chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). He has a specialised background in international law issues, particularly relating to environmental law and development, nuclear weapons and humanitarian issues. As spokesman for AOSIS, he has played an active role in global climate change negotiations.

Professor McMichael is the newly appointed Director of the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at the Australian National University. His research interests have encompassed occupational diseases, diet and cancer, and environmental health hazards. Since 1994, he has chaired the health impact assessment for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He is a member of WHO's Expert Committee on Globalisation and Health and of the International Science Council on Population and Environment. In 2001, Cambridge University Press released his new book "Human Frontiers, Environments and Disease: Past Patterns, Uncertain Futures".