Climate change affects the health of children
"All children need a safe environment and healthy and climate change is a growing threat to the public health of all children in this country and around the world. "This is how forceful are the experts of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which has warned of the dangers that climate change can cause in children.
This institution has published a political statement in which it ensures that climate change has a direct link with children's health, so he urges pediatricians and politicians to work together to protect the little ones from these climate-related threats.
Threats of climate change for children
Among the threats to children and the environment related to the climate change these experts highlighted natural disasters, heat stress, low air quality, increased infections and the threats in terms of food and water supplies.
For the president of the AAP, Sandra G. Hassink, "pediatricians have a unique and powerful voice in this conversation because of his knowledge about children's health and illness and its role in guaranteeing children's health now and in the future. "
Global climate change and children's health
The political statement of the association, called 'Global Climate Change and Child Health', comes to update a similar one launched in 2007 and has been published in the November edition of the prestigious magazine Pediatrics.
In this text, the APP notes that there is a broad consensus among scientific organizations and climatologists that the broad effects commonly known as "climate change" are the result of contemporary human activities.
The association also recalls that, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 88 percent of the current burden of morbidity attributable to climate change occurs in children under the age of five. This data has led the AAP to consider that Climate change represents a threat to health and safety of people, being children especially vulnerable, so urges to take immediate action.
The risks of climate change for children
"Children are the only ones at risk from the direct effects of climate change such as those related to climate-related disasters - including floods and storms - in those who are exposed to an increased risk of injury, death, loss or separation of caregivers and consequences for mental health, "explains Samantha Ahdoot , principal author of the policy statement.
At this point, the author adds that children "are more vulnerable to the side effects of global warming", among which the disease stands out." For example, Lyme disease affects approximately 300,000 Americans each year, with children, from 5 to 9 years old, at higher risk. Climate warming has been linked to the northward expansion of Lyme disease in North America, putting more American children at risk for this disease, "he added in an explanatory way.
Scientific evidence in relation to the climate change and the health of children
The association mentions different scientific studies that link climate change with children's health. For example, the text highlights that babies under one year old are especially vulnerable to heat-related mortality. This data is extracted from a study that projects an increase in deaths related to children's heat of 5.5 percent in women and 7.8 percent in men at the end of the 21st century.
On the other hand, experts say that the climate influences a series of infectious diseases that affect children around the world: malaria, dengue, West Nile virus, Chikungunya, Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, diarrheal disease, amoebic meningoencephalitis, and coccidioidomycosis.
Likewise, the studies mentioned by the association have found high rates of symptoms of PTSD in children after weather-related disasters, such as hurricanes and floods. In addition, children in the poorest countries of the world, where the burden of the disease is already disproportionately high, are the most affected by climate change, according to the report.
Deaths due to climate change
If the present is dangerous because of the link between climate change and children's diseases, the future is not very encouraging if no action is taken. In fact, by 2030, climate change is expected to cause an additional 48,000 deaths attributable to diarrheal diseases in children under 15, especially in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
For all these reasons, the AAP document defends promoting the efficiency of resources and renewable energies and research on effects on climate health, as well as educating and raising awareness about this critical issue, and development and ecological mobility.
In essence, the association demands a new public health movement to educate, promote and collaborate with local and national leaders in relation to climate change that poses risks to human health. Pediatricians, like defenders of the population most vulnerable to the health effects of climate change, "they have a vital role to play in this movement", conclude these experts.
Angela R. Bonachera
