Diseases on rise for climate change

Not only natural calamities, global warming is imposing precarious effects on human health by increasing various diseases.
Experts said with the increase in the temperature vector and water borne diseases are escalating in the country.
Besides, more areas are going to become submerged due to frequent flooding which will contaminate drinking water. The water would then cause viral, parasitic and bacterial diseases like diarrhoea, dysentery and cholera.
Linking it with climate change, an official of ICDDR,B said the outbreak of diarrhoea in the country in 2007 was the worst in the last 45 years which indicates the increasing number of diarrhoea cases in recent years.
The factors are interlinked. Prolonged water-logging makes breeding grounds for mosquitoes which increases the risks of vector borne diseases, said scientist of ICDDR,B Munirul Alam.
According to a publication of Climate Change Cell of the Department of Environment a total of 1,628,98 patients suffered from malaria during the period of 1974-1983 while 3,01,651 during 1984-1993 and 5,07,485 during 1994-2003.
The incidence of diarrhoea is also marked by an increasing trend over the period of 1994-2004. In 1995, around five lakh people suffered from diarrhoea that increased to 25 lakh in 2000.
The study published by the cell in 2009 also showed a disease profile in the country’s northern division Rajshahi. It said the incidence of diarrhoea increased four times in 2005 than that of 1999 while the prevalence of skin diseases almost nine times.
Global distribution of vectors would spread further due to the increased temperature and if the temperature increases by 1 degree Celsius the spread of vectors and vector borne diseases will increase since warmer temperature creates ideal habitats for insects, said an entomologist when asked about correlation between global warming and insects.
According to Bangladesh Met office, the weather of the country has been showing an increasing trend of about 1 degree Celsius in May and 0.5 degree C in November during the 14 years from 1985 to 1998.
Flies transmit typhoid, dysentery, kala-azar etc. So the increase of flies means more spread of these diseases.
Even the propensity of emerging new diseases would increase, said virologist Prof Nazrul Islam.
In its World Health Report 2002, the World Health Organisation estimated that climate change had caused 2.4 percent of worldwide diarrhoea endemic and 6 percent of malaria in some medium-income countries in 2000.
The Lancet medical journal declared in a commentary on May 16: Climate change is the biggest global health threat of 21st century.
Impacts of climate change would cause frequent natural disasters in the country. Soon after the natural calamities like cyclone, hurricane etc, a huge number of people will suffer from scarcity of food and drinking water; which has a long-term effect on human health. Diarrhoea, skin diseases and malnutrition are also a few of the common experiences.
Since 1974 to 2003, at least 174 natural disasters hit the country and the frequency of natural disasters has been increasing due to climate change.

Courtesy of The Daily Star