THE HEALTH Ministry is looking at ways to tackle an increase in medical conditions resulting from severe weather caused by climate change.
Health Minister Christos Patsalides spoke of increasing concerns at a news conference to mark this years World Health Day, dedicated to the protection of Health from Climate Change.
He said the Ministry of Health was in the process of creating a special team that would take the necessary actions in a national action plan for the confrontation of climate change problems.
Patsalides said that the activities of the Health Ministry would develop along two axes, the axis of vigilance, strengthening services for diagnosis and confrontation of repercussions and crises, and the axis of contribution in the collective effort of prevention of causes of climate changes and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Reporting on the health repercussions of climate change, Patsalides said that according to the World Health Organisation, 70,000 deaths in Europe were recorded in 2003 from heat stroke, while experts were worried about repercussions caused by changes in the means of transmission of illnesses through food, air and water.
Patsalides also reported on the serious indirect repercussions created by the lack of water, a problem that Cyprus and countries in southern Europe are already experiencing, in the lack of rainfall and the increase of air pollution. He added that the increased phenomenon of dust in the air had direct and serious effects on the respiratory system.
The Minister added, “We should invest in the children, sensitising them and creating awareness, and pointing them towards a healthy attitude of life.
“Human activity has already pushed nature to its limits and stretched its possibility to renew, and in certain cases to situations of irreversible destruction.”
Climate change is a global problem, and yet each one of us has the power to make a difference. Even small changes in daily behaviour can help prevent greenhouse gas emissions without affecting quality of life.
The European Commission launched the “You Control Climate Change” campaign with the slogan ‘Turn Down, Switch Off, Recycle, Walk – Change’, with the purpose of educating people on the factors affecting climate change as well as to influence them to make a contribution to stop its progression.
“Our future depends from our choices. The actions that we will undertake as humanity on the individual and collective level, will determine our own future and the future of generations to come,” The Minister said.
Climate change causing surge of disease
CLIMATE change is one of the factors causing an increase in the incidence of diseases like malaria and dengue fever, the World Health Organisation said yesterday.
At least 150,000 more people are dying each year of malaria, diarrhea, malnutrition and floods, all of which can be traced to climate change, said Shigeru Omi, the head of the WHO’s Western Pacific office.
More than half of those deaths are in Asia, Omi told reporters.
“Malaria-carrying mosquitoes are now found in areas where there was no malaria before,” he said, saying they were spreading to cooler climes from the tropics.
“For dengue, there are many other factors responsible for the rise of the mosquitoes. But I am sure that climate change is certainly playing one of the many roles, that much we can say.”
Malaria kills at least 100,000 people each year. WHO also estimates that there may be 50 million cases of dengue infection around the world every year, of which half a million will require hospitalisation.
About 12,500 of the cases will be fatal.
Climate change is also causing sea levels to rise, rivers to dry up and weather patterns to become erratic, Omi said. Floods, drought and heat waves are taking a toll on human health, he said.
Omi said the WHO is setting aside $10 million for an advocacy programme to inform people and governments about the health dangers of climate change.
Less consumption of energy and advances in technology to lower carbon emissions will be crucial, he said.
“In my office, we don’t wear neckties any more, unless it is a very formal occasion,” he said, adding that this led to less use of air conditioning.
“There are many things ordinary citizens can do to avoid unnecessary use of electricity.”
