PGR News from the Pacific

Posted 8:16 PM by Tevita

Expert says climate change will spread global disease

From : Pacnews

Climate change will have an overwhelmingly negative impact on health with possibly one billion more people at risk from dengue fever within 80 years, an expert said Tuesday.
While there would be some positive effects, "the balance of health effects is on the negative side," Alistair Woodward, a professor at the University of Auckland, (http://www.health.auckland.ac.nz/population-health/staff/alistair_woodward.html) told a regional meeting of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in South Korea Professor Woodward was a lead writer for the fourth assessment report of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change. Giving examples in a speech, he said that in China's Jiangsu province the winter freezing zone has moved northwards. The water snail that transmits schistosomiasis had also shifted northwards, putting perhaps 20 million people at risk of the parasitic disease also known as bilharziasis. In France extreme heat in August 2003 led to about 25,000 deaths. In the WHO's Western Pacific region, a heat wave in summer 1998 increased mortality in Shanghai threefold. Globally, said Professor Woodward, the largest effect would be under-nutrition. "There will be some winners and losers, but overall, climate change is expected to have a negative effect on food production." In the Western Pacific, changes in temperature and rainfall would make it far harder to control dengue fever, he said. "Empirical modelling suggests the climate that is likely to apply in 2085 will put an extra billion people at risk of dengue worldwide, and perhaps half that number will be in this region." Water supplies would be an increasingly serious concern, with the percentage of the world's land area suffering drought increasing perhaps tenfold by the end of the century. Small Pacific island states would be especially vulnerable to rising sea levels and changes in rainfall patterns. Professor Woodward said the health sector must be at the forefront on climate change. He called for studies on water management in low-lying Pacific islands, community-based disaster preparedness, and on efforts to reduce the impact of rural drought. "The most difficult change of all is a change of will. We should not be daunted by the size of the task," Woodward said. WHO director general Margaret Chan, in a speech Monday afternoon, said that even if greenhouse gas emissions were to stop immediately the changes already being seen would go on throughout this century.
"Climate changes will affect, in profoundly adverse ways, some of the most fundamental determinants of health: food, air, water," she said. "Developing countries will be the first and hardest hit. Subsistence agriculture will suffer the most. Areas with weak health infrastructures will be the least able to cope."……..PNS (ENDS)



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DIVA-GIS	Wednesday, September 12, 2007 Posted 8:16 PM by Tevita Expert says climate change will spread global disease From : Pacnews Climate change will have an overwhelmingly negative impact on health with possibly one billion more people at risk from dengue fever within 80 years, an expert said Tuesday. While there would be some positive effects, "the balance of health effects is on the negative side," Alistair Woodward, a professor at the University of Auckland, (http://www.health.auckland.ac.nz/population-health/staff/alistair_woodward.html) told a regional meeting of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in South Korea Professor Woodward was a lead writer for the fourth assessment report of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change. Giving examples in a speech, he said that in China's Jiangsu province the winter freezing zone has moved northwards. The water snail that transmits schistosomiasis had also shifted northwards, putting perhaps 20 million people at risk of the parasitic disease also known as bilharziasis. In France extreme heat in August 2003 led to about 25,000 deaths. In the WHO's Western Pacific region, a heat wave in summer 1998 increased mortality in Shanghai threefold. Globally, said Professor Woodward, the largest effect would be under-nutrition. "There will be some winners and losers, but overall, climate change is expected to have a negative effect on food production." In the Western Pacific, changes in temperature and rainfall would make it far harder to control dengue fever, he said. "Empirical modelling suggests the climate that is likely to apply in 2085 will put an extra billion people at risk of dengue worldwide, and perhaps half that number will be in this region." Water supplies would be an increasingly serious concern, with the percentage of the world's land area suffering drought increasing perhaps tenfold by the end of the century. Small Pacific island states would be especially vulnerable to rising sea levels and changes in rainfall patterns. Professor Woodward said the health sector must be at the forefront on climate change. He called for studies on water management in low-lying Pacific islands, community-based disaster preparedness, and on efforts to reduce the impact of rural drought. "The most difficult change of all is a change of will. We should not be daunted by the size of the task," Woodward said. WHO director general Margaret Chan, in a speech Monday afternoon, said that even if greenhouse gas emissions were to stop immediately the changes already being seen would go on throughout this century. "Climate changes will affect, in profoundly adverse ways, some of the most fundamental determinants of health: food, air, water," she said. "Developing countries will be the first and hardest hit. Subsistence agriculture will suffer the most. Areas with weak health infrastructures will be the least able to cope."……..PNS (ENDS) * Comments: Post a Comment	Archive October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 January 2010 RSS Feed Alternative feed Contact Tevita Something new: Agrobiodiversity Weblog: For discussions of conservation and sustainable use of the genetic resources of crops, livestock and their wild relatives. 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