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AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO LIFE Climate change and health: what’s the connection?
T
A brief look at climate change
By Rory Visco
HERE is definitely a continuing destabilization in the world’s climate system in the past several years as the world has witnessed extreme weather events that are unpredictable and have become more intense and frequent. But it’s no longer just the weather anymore. Forest fires, drought, melting of the ice caps, changes in the behavior of animals and insects and a range of disastrous situations are becoming more and more frequent. Forty years ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) published “Our Planet, Our Earth,” a report by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The report
called on nations to “address poverty, food and agriculture, water, energy, industry, human settlements, urbanization and basic services, transboundary and international issues—if the population of the world was to be healthier.” Today, WHO describes climate change as “the single biggest health threat facing humanity—and health professionals worldwide are already responding to the health harms caused by this unfolding crisis.”
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 56.0080
THE United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change describes climate change as “a change of climate, which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods.” Dr. Carlos Gundran, who chairs both the Disaster Risk Management Subcommittee and the Department of Health Policy and Administration at UP Manila’s College of Public Health, said climate change happens when burning fuel increases the level of carbon dioxide (CO2). This, in turn, creates the “greenhouse effect,” where heat from the sunlight is trapped instead of it being reflected outside the planet. “The extra trapped heat disrupts many of the interconnected systems in our environment, and this is what we feel, as we know, as climate
DR. Carlos Gundran: “It’s probably best to prepare how the country will effectively and efficiently respond to these [extreme climate] events. I believe this is where we should put more focus on.” CPH.UPM.EDU.PH
change,” Dr. Gundran said in his talk at the recent “Stop Covid Deaths” webinar “Climate Change and Health: Bakit Natin Kailangan Alamin,” organized by the University of the Philippines and UP Manila NIH National Telehealth Center in cooperation with UP Philippine General Hospital. Continued on A2
n JAPAN 0.4104 n UK 66.3079 n HK 7.1379 n CHINA 8.1799 n SINGAPORE 40.3254 n AUSTRALIA 39.0880 n EU 55.8792 n KOREA 0.0419 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.9116
Source: BSP (August 26, 2022)