scholarly journals Promoting education on the health effects of climate change for nurses in Finland

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
I Tiitta ◽  
R McDermott-Levy ◽  
J J K Jaakkola ◽  
H Turunen ◽  
L Kuosmanen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Practice Nurses ◽  
Nursing Organizations ◽  
Service Training ◽  
Qualitative Descriptive ◽  
Group Interviews

Abstract Background Climate change has a direct and indirect impact on human health that include health impacts from rising temperatures and poor air quality. Without changes in our greenhouse gas emissions, it is estimated that by the end of this century average temperatures will rise from two to four degrees Celsius worldwide. In Finland, this rise in temperature is estimated to be 1.5-2 times higher than other regions of the world. During the heatwaves in Finland in the 2000s, the mortality rate among the elderly increased by 21%. Nurses should be aware of these health effects and the patients who are particularly vulnerable to the health impacts caused by climate change. Purpose The purpose of the study was to identify the health issues that Finnish nurses associate with climate change. The purpose was also to find out how prepared nurses are to deal with the health effects of climate change. Methods A qualitative descriptive study was conducted in November 2018 using focus group interviews to collect data. Results Interviews revealed that nurses have seen much of the health damage caused by climate change in their patients. However, they had not linked their observed changes in patients' health to climate change. Nurses interviewed felt unaware of the health effects of climate change. In addition, nurses felt that climate change was not adequately addressed in basic and in-service training. Conclusions Education could strengthen the competence of nurses in helping their patients prevent and reduce the health impacts caused by climate change. It is therefore important to include climate change and its impact on human health in the nursing curriculum. Key messages Nursing organizations can influence nurses’ understanding of climate change in their practice. Nurses' understanding can be used leverage their role in reaching nurses for new and emerging health conditions that influence public health.

Impact of climate change on human health: adaptation challenges in Queensland, Australia

2020 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-72
Author(s):  
R Rahman ◽  
H Zafarullah
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Chronically Ill ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
Related Services ◽  
Geographical Regions ◽  
Health Related

The purpose of this article was to explore the impacts of climate change on human health in Australia in general, and the state of Queensland in particular. We evaluated health-related services and adaptation challenges in the health sector and indicate possible remedies. The scientific consensus on the evidence for anthropogenic climate change is convincing. Climate change will have potentially devastating human health effects including increased morbidity, mortality and injury in the near future. Its impacts will be unevenly distributed among geographical regions and population groups. The elderly, children and people who are chronically ill and economically disadvantaged will be more vulnerable than others. Adaptation is a valuable tool for minimizing the effects of climate change on human health, but the mechanisms involve various societal, cultural, economic, political, environmental, information and technological challenges that need to be addressed rigorously and cautiously. Developing and designing appropriate healthcare systems to meet the challenges involved with adaptation is equally important in reducing the health effects of climate variability. There is an increased need for information about climatic impacts on human health and a need to increase institutional capacity, social and human capital, leadership, communication and partnerships as well as promoting stakeholders’ engagement in the adaptation processes in order to ensure success.

Planetary Health, Climate Change, and Lifestyle Medicine: Threats and Opportunities

2021 ◽  
pp. 155982762110081
Author(s):  
Neha Pathak ◽  
Amanda McKinney
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Core Competencies ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Noncommunicable Diseases ◽  
Potential Health ◽  
Lifestyle Medicine ◽  
The Face ◽  
Mitigate Climate Change

Global environmental degradation and climate change threaten the foundation of human health and well-being. In a confluence of crises, the accelerating pace of climate change and other environmental disruptions pose an additional, preventable danger to a global population that is both aging and carrying a growing burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Climate change and environmental disruption function as “threat multipliers,” especially for those with NCDs, worsening the potential health impacts on those with suboptimal health. At the same time, these environmental factors threaten the basic pillars of health and prevention, increasing the risk of developing chronic disease. In the face of these threats, the core competencies of lifestyle medicine (LM) present crucial opportunities to mitigate climate change and human health impacts while also allowing individuals and communities to build resilience. LM health professionals are uniquely positioned to coach patients toward climate-healthy behavior changes that heal both people and the planet.

scholarly journals Catastrophic Health Impacts of Spiraling Climate Change: How Certain Can We Be About Their Magnitudes?

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zaid Chalabi ◽  
Anna M. Foss
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Environmental Exposures ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Total Uncertainty ◽  
Human Health Impacts

Recently, there has been a strong interest in the climate emergency and the human health impacts of climate change. Although estimates have been quoted, the modeling methods used have either been simplistic or opaque, making it difficult for policy makers to have confidence in these estimates. Providing central estimates of health impacts, without any quantification of their uncertainty, is deficient because such an approach does not acknowledge the inherent uncertainty in extreme environmental exposures associated with spiraling climate change and related health impacts. Furthermore, presenting only the uncertainty bounds around central estimates, without information on how the uncertainty in each of the model parameters and assumptions contribute to the total uncertainty, is insufficient because this approach hides those parameters and assumptions which contribute most to the total uncertainty. We propose a framework for calculating the catastrophic human health impacts of spiraling climate change and the associated uncertainties. Our framework comprises three building blocks: (A) a climate model to simulate the environmental exposure extremes of spiraling climate change; (B) a health impact model which estimates the health burdens of the extremes of environmental exposures; and (C) an analytical mathematical method which characterizes the uncertainty in (A) and (B), propagates the uncertainty in-between and through these models, and attributes the proportion of uncertainty in the health outcomes to model assumptions and parameter values. Once applied, our framework can be of significant value to policy makers because it handles uncertainty transparently while taking into account the complex interactions between climate and human health.

scholarly journals Aerosol exposure versus aerosol cooling of climate: what is the optimal emission reduction strategy for human health?

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (19) ◽  
pp. 9441-9449 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Löndahl ◽  
E. Swietlicki ◽  
E. Lindgren ◽  
S. Loft
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Health Effect ◽  
Health Benefit ◽  
Cooling Effect ◽  
Short Time Scale ◽  
Ship Emissions ◽  
Aerosol Emissions

Abstract. Particles, climate change, and health have thought-provoking interactions. Air pollution is one of the largest environmental problems concerning human health. On the other hand, aerosol particles can have a cooling effect on climate and a reduction of those emissions may result in an increased temperature globally, which in turn may have negative health effects. The objective of this work was to investigate the "total health effects" of aerosol emissions, which include both exposure to particles and consequences for climate change initiated by particles. As a case study the "total health effect" from ship emissions was derived by subtracting the number of deaths caused by exposure with the estimated number of lives saved from the cooling effect of the emissions. The analysis showed that, with current level of scientific understanding, it could not be determined whether ship emissions are negative or positive for human health on a short time scale. This first attempt to approximate the combined effect of particle emissions on health shows that reductions of particulate air pollution will in some cases (black carbon) have win-win effects on health and climate, but sometimes also cause a shift from particle exposure-related health effects towards an increasing risk of health consequences from climate change. Thus, measures to reduce aerosol emissions have to be coupled with climate change mitigation actions to achieve a full health benefit on a global level.

Health-relevant influences of air substances and meteorological conditions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Koller ◽  
Christa Meisinger ◽  
Markus Wehler ◽  
Elke Hertig
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Emergency Department ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Supplementary Information ◽  
Human Organism ◽  
Average Risk ◽  
Emergency Department Data

<p>For a long time it has been known that exceptionally strong and long-lasting heat waves have negative health effects on the population, which is expressed in an intensification of existing diseases and over-mortality of certain risk groups (Kampa, Castanas 2008). Often associated with heat are stagnant airflow conditions that cause a large increase in the concentration of certain air substances (Ebi, McGregor 2008). Many of these air substances have a strong adverse effect on the human organism (Kampa, Castanas 2008).</p><p>The aim of the project is to investigate the actual hazard potential of health-relevant air pollution- and climatological variables by quantifying the effects on human health of increased exposure to air constituents and temperature extremes. Different multivariate statistical methods such as correlation analysis, regression models and random forests, extreme value analysis and individual case studies are used.</p><p>As a medical data basis for this purpose, the emergency department data of the University Hospital Augsburg are regarded. In addition to the diagnosis, supplementary information such as age, gender, place of residence and pre-existing conditions of the patients are used. Among the air constituents, the focus is on ozone, nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter. In the meteorological part, the focus is primarily on temperature, which is not only a direct burden but, as in the case of ozone, also has a decisive influence on the formation of ozone molecules. However, a large number of other meteorological parameters such as precipitation, relative humidity and wind speed as well as the synoptic situation also play a major role in the formation, decomposition process and the distribution of pollutants (Ebi, McGregor 2008).</p><p>The first major question to answer is whether air-pollution and meteorological stress situations are visible in the emergency department data. Further in-depth questions are which factors have the greatest negative impact, what is the most common environment-related disease, which weather conditions carry a higher than average risk and what are the health risks of climate change.</p><p>Ideally, the analysis may also provide a short-term forecast from which to derive whether or not there will be an above or below average number of visits to the emergency department.</p><p>The project is funded by the German Federal Foundation for Environment (DBU) and the German Research Foundation (DFG) - project number 408057478.</p><p>Literature</p><p>Ebi K., McGregor G. (2008): Climate Change, Tropospheric Ozone and Particulate Matter, and Health Impacts. doi: 10.1289/ehp.11463</p><p>Kampa M., Castanas E. (2008): Human health effects of air pollution. In: Environmental Pollution 151(2): 362-367. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2007.06.012</p>

Human Health Impacts of Climate Change in Portugal: Study Approach and Key Findings

Epidemiology ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (Suppl) ◽  
pp. S422
Author(s):  
E Casimiro ◽  
J Calheiros ◽  
S Dessai ◽  
F Duarte Santos
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Human Health Impacts ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change
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