Human health under threat

Around the world, climate change has caused severe damage affecting the lives of billions of people. Droughts, wildfires, heatwaves and floods have become common occurrences. Besides the immediate consequences of climate-related events, human health will be threatened as climate change intensifies. The Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Peter Sands, has warned that climate change will fuel diseases in the future.

The impact of this is already materialising in many parts of the world including Pakistan. In the aftermath of the recent super floods, the country faced massive malaria and dengue outbreaks. Changing weather patterns such as increasing temperatures, rainfall and humidity are allowing mosquitoes to breed. Resultantly, areas that were once unaffected by malaria are now faced with higher risks. Mass displacement caused by floods and other climate events are forcing people to live in unsanitary and confined spaces. This is augmenting the spread of diseases like tuberculosis (TB) and cholera that thrive in impoverished areas lacking food, potable water and sanitation.

As climate-related events become more frequent and force people out of their homes, disease outbreaks will become rampant threatening the lives of millions of people. This should particularly worry the Pakistani government as our healthcare structure is not equipped to deal with such mass outbreaks. Although Sands reassured that the world is not badly prepared for such outbreaks, our government must realise that Pakistan is not the foremost priority for international organisations when it comes to relief support. Therefore, the Ministry of Climate Change must acknowledge the health implications of climate change and pursue both local and international organisations to formulate a strategy to improve healthcare facilities in vulnerable regions and cope with future epidemic outbreaks.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th, 2022.

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