Climate Change and Child Health – Importance of Pediatricians for Parents

Background: Children are among the most vulnerable to suffer from health consequences due to climate change. Parents as caregivers play an important role in protecting them adequately. Pediatricians are regularly seen as highly-trusted health professionals, but it remains unclear whether they are an information source for parents regarding climate change and health. According to the Health Action Process Approach, parents’ risk perception is an important pre-intender for intention building. Methods: A sample of parents (N = 243) living in Germany completed an online, cross-sectional survey distributed in summer 2020. Regarding climate change and health, we asked about information sources, relevance estimation, and risk perception of parents. Multiple linear regression with general and individual risk perception as outcomes were used to analyze the effect of knowledge and personal relevance. Results: Parents seek information about climate change and health primarily via internet and social media. Pediatricians are rarely considered as suitable information source. Parents see the highest risk for their child through increasing air pollutants and stronger UV-radiation. Relevance (β = .52, t = 5.79, p < .001) and knowledge (β = .02, t = .36, p = .72) explain 18.2% of general risk perception (F(5, 208) = 9.25, p < .001, ΔR2 = .13). The effect is lower (13%) for individual risk perception (F(5, 189) = 5.67, p < .001, ΔR2 = .07). Conclusions: Pediatricians can play a valuable role in informing parents about climate change and health; nevertheless, they are not yet seen as suitable information sources by parents. Results demonstrate that knowledge about climate change and health is not sufficient to increase risk perception of parents, but strengthening risk perception is possible through rising relevance estimation. When informing parents about the expected health impact of climate change, this should be considered.

A Panel Asymmetric Causality Between Health and Climate Change

As climate change threatens human life and health by causing severe storms, floods, temperature fluctuations and droughts, it is predicted that in the coming decades, most of the global population will be impacted and the lives of millions will be at risk. In this context, the article investigates the existence of a symmetric and asymmetric causality between climate change and health between 1990 and 2015 for European countries, including EU, EFTA member and EU candidate states. In the first stage of the analysis, health scores are estimated by cluster and discriminant analyses; in the second stage, the relationships among these scores and climate variables are examined. The country-specific findings are obtained for the health effects of climate change variables according to factors such as geographical structure and seasonal characteristics. According to the results, while the health effects of changes in temperature and greenhouse emissions differ from country to country, the reduction in precipitation for nearly half of the countries is found to have a negative effect on health.

Climate Change and Health Impacts in Pakistan

Conferring to the Global Risk Index, Pakistan is ranked as the 7th most susceptible country to the inexorable influence of climate change. Before this century ends, the annual mean temperature in Pakistan is expected to rise from 3°C to 5°C for a focal worldwide discharge situation. Usually, annual precipitation is not relied upon to have a critical long haul pattern. Ocean level is relied upon to ascend further by 60 centimeters. All these climatic events are likely to disrupt the economy, lives, and the socio-political aspects of human life. Pakistan has already witnessed massive loss in terms of human, infrastructural, and economic aspects. The chapter is designed to understand both the direct and indirect health risks associated with frequent climatic events like floods, drought, and heat waves in Pakistan. After analyzing the available literature, it was observed that floods and drought have direct and indirect health risks associated with them while in case of heat waves, health risks cannot be established precisely as multiple variables are involved, playing a significant role.

Knowledge and Perceptions of the Health Impacts of Climate Change Among Canadians

Background At a time of intersecting public health crises of COVID-19 and climate change, understanding public perceptions of the health risks of climate change is critical to inform risk communication and support the adoption of adaptive behaviours. In Canada, very few studies have explored public understandings and perceptions of climate impacts on health. Methods This study addresses this gap through a nationally-representative survey of Canadians (n=3,014) to explore public perceptions and awareness regarding the link between climate change and health in Canada. The 116-question survey measured awareness of the link between climate change and health, affective assessment of climate health impacts, unprompted knowledge of climate health impacts, and concern about a range of impacts. Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to test for differences in median values among sociodemographic groups. The survey also measured baseline climate opinion, which was used to segment the public into different audiences through a latent class analysis.Results Three climate opinion classes were identified in the sample (disengaged, concerned, and alarmed) and perceptions of climate health impacts were compared across these classes and other sociodemographic variables. Approximately half (53%) of respondents have considerable awareness of the link between climate change and health, and even more (61%) perceive climate change as bad for health. The majority of respondents (58%) can name one or more health impact without prompting. Concern about health impacts of climate change is highest among the alarmed and lowest among the disengaged, as compared to concerns about other categories of climate impacts such as economic. Across the survey, knowledge and concern are highest for water- and food-related health impacts.Conclusions The differential knowledge, awareness, and concern of climate health impacts across segments of the Canadian population can inform targeted communication and engagement to build broader support for adaptation and mitigation measures.

Intersection of Climate Change and Health: An Explication of the Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity

The US National Academy of Medicine released its consensus study for the next decade entitled The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path To Achieve Health Equity (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2021). This paper examines the report, its implications for nursing globally, its focus on systemic, structural, and institutional racism, and the intersection with climate change and deleterious health consequences. The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) has led in addressing the critical role of the nursing profession in achieving optimal population health outcomes in the US. Yet, relevance exists for nursing in other global areas. The most recent US report focuses on social determinants of health (SDoH) and explicitly addresses climate change as a looming public health threat. An analysis of the key foci of nursing’s role in climate change amidst the critical role of health equity globally is explicated.