Did you know that climate change can accelerate the spread of disease?
That’s right, not only will we face a world beset by stronger typhoons, floods and droughts – we’ll have hordes of disease-ridden mosquitoes and bacteria-filled pools to contend with.
A study published in February 2012 by the New York Academy of Sciences has shown that rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns might have a substantial effect in spreading both waterborne and vector-borne diseases.
Higher temperatures will see mosquitoes – which require temperatures of about 17*C – invading once cold and mosquito-free areas. Malaria and other vector-borne illnesses carried by mosquitoes shall thus spread.
Increased flooding from heavier rains on the other hand, threatens people with Leptospirosis, a bacterial infection which causes fever, diarrhea and severe rashes. Owing largely to stagnant pools left behind by typhoons ‘Pedring’ and ‘Quiel’, the Philippine Department of Health recorded 2601 Leptospirosis cases from January to September 2011 alone – twice as many compared with 2010.
In its ‘World Health Report’ for 2002, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that climate change might be responsible for approximately 2.4% of worldwide diarrhea and 6% of malaria cases.
To educate students on the crucial link between climate change and health, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-Philippines) recently allied with Pascual Laboratories to teach 900 students and 10 teachers in two schools not just how to cope with outbreaks of disease – but how to reduce their personal environmental impacts to mitigate climate change. The programme shall run from June until August.
Says WWF-Philippines Environmental Education Head Obel Resurreccion, “Climate change affects the fundamental requirements for human health – clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food and secure shelter. By inspiring a new generation to dream of new climate change and health-management solutions, WWF and Pascual Laboratories aim to improve tomorrow’s lives today.”
Continuously assailed by storms, rising sea levels and fluctuating temperatures, the Philippines currently ranks third in the roster of countries most vulnerable to climate effects. The joint-initiative aims to prepare Filipinos to adapt to its effects.
“As one of the pioneering projects under our CSR program, the Pascual Lab SEED Initiative, we are very excited for we feel that WWF can best help us impart better health and environmental practices for the next generation,” adds Pascual Laboratories Corporate Communications Director Mia Pascual Cenzon. “As a company that champions natural remedies, we strongly believe in taking care of nature because it also takes care of us. Each person, family and corporation benefits from a thriving Earth – which is precisely why we must protect it.” [PR]
