The Era of Global Boiling is a Serious Threat to Public Health
Creators: name: Mazhar Iqbal, Mahnoor
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025

description: Climate change is a hot debate now a days. Our climate is changing rapidly as the major reasons of this change is increase in greenhouse gases due to which earth temperature is increasing making  the survival of  the organisms difficult on this planet. Now the question is what is climate change?  Climate change is the long term shift in weather patterns. Due to this changing climate the temperature of the earth has increased. There will be a question in everyone’s mind that how it is affecting the health of human being? It is affecting human’s health both directly and indirectly. Directly climate change is effecting human health by heat wave, extreme weather events, air quality and vector-borne diseases. Indirectly climate change is affecting human health by the effecting food security and supply, mental health, water quality, allergens and migration and displacement.

Directly when the temperature is increasing it is the reason of the heat wave and this heat wave is causing heat stroke in human. Heat wave is a prolonged period of hot weather. These heat waves are causing heat-related illness and death in humans. Heat related illness include heat exhaustion, heat stroke, heat cramps and heat rashes. Heat wave also cause cardiovascular diseases and respiratory diseases in human. Children, elderly and already ill people are more vulnerable to heat wave.  Direct impact of climate change also include extreme weather events. Extreme weather events include typhoons, hurricanes, floods, wildfires and droughts. These extreme weather events are the cause of mortalities, injuries, mental health issues and fatal diseases in human. Climate change is also affecting air quality. Air quality refers to the cleanliness of air and the presence of the pollutants in the air. If air quality is poor it means that more harmful substances are present in the air like NO2, SO2     and particulate matter. The major causes of poor air quality are emission from vehicles and industry, agricultural activities, natural events and climate change. Due to poor air quality human health is affecting greatly because it is causing respiratory diseases like asthma and cardiovascular diseases in human health. Allergies, pre-mature death and birth defects are also due to poor air quality. Vector-borne diseases are also a direct impact of climate change on human health. Vector- borne diseases are those diseases or infections which are caused by pathogens and parasites and directly transmitted to human by different vectors like mosquitos and ticks etc. Due to climate change their transmission season of spreading diseases has increased, geographical distribution has increased, their breeding sites have increased and due to increase in extreme weather events it has become difficult to take measure to control the population of these vectors. 

 In indirect way climate change is affecting the surroundings of human being which are directly effecting human health. Due to increase in temperature the crop productivity has reduced which is causing malnutrition in humans. Due to increase in the C02 level the nutritional quality has also reduced and the reduction in the nutritional quality is causing weaken immunity, anemia and nutritional related health issues in children. Climate change is also affecting the availability of the water as due to increase in temperature the rate of evaporation has increased due to which water availability is decreasing causing water scarcity which is leading towards dehydration, poor hygiene and water borne diseases. Contamination of water with different chemicals due to floods and heavy rainfalls can also cause outbreak of different fatal diseases like cholera etc. The season of pollens and allergens emergence has prolonged and their production has also increased due to increased temperature and due to higher exposure to these pollens respiratory diseases has also increased in human. Losing home and livelihoods due to extreme weather events can cause significant mental health issues like depression, PTSD, anxiety and other mental health issues. Since the temperature is increasing it is a major reason of sea level rising and extreme weather events are causing communities to dislocate causing mental health issues in people with many others. Environmental changes due to climate change is the main reason of forced migration causing overcrowding due to which the resources competition has increased and the risk of different diseases has also increased. Migration also cause socioeconomic stability like lack of access to health facilities, low resources etc. Climate change also causing water and air pollution which is indirectly affecting human health. If we breathe in polluted and we use contaminated water we can be prone to different health care issues like cardiovascular diseases or respiratory diseases. Climate change is also effecting economic condition of a community. Economic damage like infrastructure damage, loss of hospitals or sudden outbreak of any disease may have serious impact on economy which may also effect human health. Environmental degradation may also damage the habitat of different organisms leading to loss of biodiversity which can also cause food security and spread of different diseases which may affect human health. So, Climate change can effect human health directly or indirectly. 

To mitigate the effect of climate change on human health we have to reduce the emission of GHGs mostly from vehicles, industries and from agricultural practices. Sustainable agriculture practices are necessary to cope up with this changing climate. There is a need to develop resilient infrastructure and early warning systems for the safety of our community. Educating the communities about any unusual condition and develop regularly updating emergency response plans is also necessary. We have to reduce emission and use of fossil fuels to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. There is a strong need to develop policies which address both direct and indirect impact of climate change on human health. It will be useful to collaborate with international agencies to deal with the effects of climate change. We should invest in research to understand the complex relationship between climate change and how it is human health. We have to engage the community in decision making related to climate change and its impacts on their health. There is a need to make community resilient by education and capacity building etc.