L3 Health of Envrironment

Example of Malaria cont.

-An increase in temperature, rainfall, and humidity may cause a proliferation of the malaria-carrying mosquitoes at higher altitudes, resulting in an increase in malaria transmission in areas in which it was not reported earlier -At lower altitudes where malaria is already a problem, warmer temps will alter the growth cycle of the parasite enabling it to develop faster, increasing transmission -Climate change increases the epidemic potential of malaria in tropical countries susceptible to the disease -Increasing temperatures and global travel have the potential to reintroduce or increase transmission of malaria in tropical and temperate countries that have either eliminated or controlled transmission

Global warming impact on health

-Between 2030-2050 climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year, from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress alone -The direct damage costs to health is estimated to be between USD 2-4 billion per year by 2030 -It will effect everything and everyone. The plants, the ecosystem, nothing will be safe.

Biodiversity and human health

-Biodiversity loss can have significant direct human health impacts if ecosystem services are no longer adequate to meet social needs -Indirectly, changes in ecosystem services affect livelihoods, income, local migration, and on occasion, may even cause or exacerbate political conflict

Nutritional impact on biodiversity

-Biodiversity plays a crucial role in human nutrition through its influence on world food production *ensures the sustainable productivity of soils and provides genetic resources for all crops, livestock, and marine species harvested for food -Nutritional composition between foods and among varieties/cultivars/breeds of the same food can differ dramatically, affecting micronutrifent availability -Intensified and enhanced food production through irrigation, use of fertlizer, pesticides or intoruction of crop varieties and cropping patterns effect biodiversity -Habitat simplification, species loss, and species succession can increase receptivity to ill health

Biological, health and pharmacological sciences

-Biological diversity of microorganisms and fauna provides extensive benefits for biological, health, and pharmacoligcal sciences -Significant medical and pharmacological discoveries are made through a greater understanding of the earth's biodiversity -Loss of biodiversity may limit the discovery of potential treatments for many diseases and health problems

Socioeconomic and behavioral factors

-Change in locations of urban centers due to flooding or other changing weather -Population migrations -Changing land use regulations -Changing agricultural practices -Need to divert resources to mitigate effect of climate change

Evidence that change in climate affects health

-Climate change affects transmission season for diseases such as malaria -Leads to increased malnutrition -Increased number of people suffering from extreme weather events -Cardio-respiratory diseases related to air quality -Changes in infectious disease vectors -Decrease in cold-related deaths

Climate change is already impacting health

-Death and illness from *Increasingly frequent extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, storms and floods *Disruption of food systems *Increases in zoonoses and food-,water-, and vector borne diseases *Mental health issues -Climate change is undermining many of the social determinants of health, such as livelihoods, equality and access to health care and social support structures -These climate-sensitive health risks are disproportionately felt by the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, including women, children, ethnic minorities, poor communities, migrants or displaced persons, older populations, and those with underlying health conditions

Animals

-Effect of climate on humans can be masked by socioeconomic processes, sanitation, etc. -Humans relatively homogenous compared to diversity of animal species -Effect of climate and environment will be more felt on animals and will have an impact on their biodiversity

Environment - The neglected component of the one health triad

-Environmental health addresses all the physical, chemical, and biological factors external to a person, and all the related factors impacting behaviors -Encompasses the assessment and control of those environmental factors that can potentially affect health -Targeted towards preventing disease and creating health-supportive environments -Environment has been referred to as the neglected component of the One Health triad

Adverse effects of climate change

-Environmental issues have gained greatest traction in terms of climate change and its adverse effects on the health of humans, animals and environments -Climate change compromises the ecological and environmental integrity of living systems by *Inducing lifecycle changes in pathogens, vectors, and reservoirs * New and emerging diseases of plants and food and domestic and wild animals *trophic cascades *Interfering with the synchrony between interacting species in a particular habitat *Modifying or destroying habitats

Eco-Healthscape

-Health is created and lived by people within the settings of their everyday life; where they learn, work, play and love

Diseases of Plants

-Health of plants is directly related to drought/rainfall -Increasing temps may alter the suitability of regions for particular crops, and extreme weather events may have severe and unpredictable effects on harvests -Climate influences the spread of pests and pathogens -Can lead to increased use of fungicides and pesticides

Biodiversity and Health

-Healthy communities rely on well-functioning ecosystems *They provide clean air, fresh water, and medicines and food security. They limit the disease and stabilize the climate -Biodiversity underpins all life on earth, and refers to biological variety in all its forms, from the genetic make up of plants and animals to cultural diversity -Biodiversity loss is happening at unprecedented rates, impacting human health worldwide

Bats and Hendra

-Historically food shortages in Australia have caused bats to break into smaller groups and temporarily move near more readily available food sources like farms and urban gardens *once shortages eased, bats would move back to the forest -Deforestation has caused bat populations to make the new habitats permenant *In southeastern Queensland, nearly one third of the bats winter foraging habitat disappeared between 1996-2018 -Bats in these novel habitats excrete more hendra virus *Hendra is a nasty zoonotic disease that affects humans and horses -Between 2003 and 2020 there were at least 40 bat-to-horse spillover events in the region

Biodiversity disturbances impact on infectious disease

-Human activities are disturbing both the structure and functions of ecosystems and altering native biodiversity -such distubrances reduce the abundance of some organisms, cause population growth in others, and modify the interactions among organisms, and alter teh interactions between organisms and their physical and chemical environments -Patterns of infectious diseases are sentitive to these disturbances and could jump ship

Extreme Heat events

-Increased incidence of heat stroke, dehydration, cardiac stress, and respiratory diseases -Hyperthermia in elderly people can lead to cardiac arrest -People under stress due to climate may be more susceptible to infectious diseases -Extremes in energy use to combat heat waves can lead to rolling blackouts *Lack of air conditioning *Elevators won't work so people have to exert more to move *Food spoilage

Environmental risks contribute to deaths and disease

-Known avoidable environmental risks cause about one quarter of all deaths and disease burden worldwide, amounting to at least 13 million deaths each year *Higher than the US where it accounts for about 5% of overall health -A healthy environment is vital for human health and development -Air pollution, one of the largest risks to health, causes seven million preventable deaths per year *More than 90% of people breathing polluted air *Almost 3000 million people still depending on polluting fuels such as solid fuels or kerosene for lighting, cooking and heating -More than half the worlds population is still exposed to unsafely managed water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene, resulting in more than 800,000 preventable deaths each year -A large fraction of malaria cases and other vector-borne diseases is closely linked to the management and manipulation of the environment, such as drainage, irrigation schemes or design of dams -More than one million workers die each year because their workplace is unsafe, and more than one million people die from exposure to chemicals

Example of Malaria

-Malaria is the world's most important and deadly tropical mosquito-borne parasitic disease -Kills approximately 1 million people and afflicts as many as 1 billion people in 109 countries throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America -Variation in climate conditions, such as temperature, rainfall patterns, and humidity has a profound effect on the longevity of the mosquito, the development of malaria parasites in the mosquito and, subsequently, on malaria transmission. -Modeling suggests that the increase in global temp will enhance the transmission rates of the mosquito-borne diseases and widen its geographical distribution, which an increase in malaria, in particular, being identified as a potential impact of climate change *Increase in the spread of the disease in the current malaria endemic areas *Reemergence of the disease in areas which have controlled transmission or eliminated the disease in the past -Historically, malaria was endemic in Europe, including Scandinavia, but was eliminated in 1975 due to better socio-economic conditions, improved irrigation and drainage, adopting of new farming methods, behavioral changes, and access to better health care

Pakistan in Sept 2022

-One third of the country submerged in water -33-50 million of 225 million people displaced (one in seven Pakistanis affected) -Nearly 1500 people dead -2 million acres of farmland and 90% of crops damaged -900,000 livestock animals lost

Access to health care

-Over 930 million people (12% of world's population) spend at least 10% of their income to pay for health care -Health shocks have pushed 100 million people into poverty every year *Poorest aren't usually insured *Climate change worsens this trend

Soybean Rust

-Soybean is an incredibly important calorie crop for both people and livestock and is threatened by a rust fungus which can travel globally on air currents -Where conditions are suitable, soybean rust can cause 80% yield losses -The increased frequency of severe weather events under climate change may make this pathogen harder to predict and mitigate against *It is thought to have transferred from Columbia to the US via Hurrican Ivan in 2004

Fungal Pathogens and our crops

-Staple calorie crops, like cereals and potatoes, are important for food security -Based on the provision of calories per day, rice, wheat, sugarcane, maize, soybean, and potatoes are the most important calorie crops in the world. These crops are grown in the greatest quantities worldwide -In agricultural settings today, three of these six - wheat, soybean, and potato - are threatened by fungal pathogens

Climate change is the biggest health threat facing humanity

-The WHO terms climate change the biggest health threat facing humanity -The intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has concluded that to avert catastrophic health impacts and prevent millions of climate change related deaths, the world must limit temperature rise to 1.5 degree Celcius -Past emissions have already made a certain level of global temperature rise and other changes to the climate inevitable -Global heating of even 1.5 degrees Celsius is not considered safe, however; every additional tenth of a degree of warming will take a serious toll on people's lives and deaths -Global warming will be a "threat multiplier" in that it adversely affects infectious diseases, zoonosis, food security, food safety.

Whose health is most at risk?

-The people whose health is being harmed first and worst by the climate crisis are the people who contribute least to its causes, people in low-income and disadvantaged countries and communities *They are also least able to protect themselves and their families against it -The climate crisis threatens to undo the last fifty years of progress in development, global health, and poverty reduction, and to further widen existing health inequalities between and within populations

Potato famine

-Today's threats to wheat, soybean, and potato comes form the same organism that caused the devastating Irish potato famine of 1845-49 *Caused the deaths of a million people in Ireland *Pushed another million to emigrate

Trophic Cascade

-Trophic cascades are the effects of removal or addition of keystone species that propagate through food webs across multiple trophic levels *powerful indirect interactions that can control entire ecosystems -Trophic cascades occur when preditors limit the density and or behavior of prey and thereby enhance survival of the next lower trophic level 1st trophic level is grass 2nd critters eating grass and so on

Major processes affect infectious disease reservoirs and transmission

-deforestation -land use change -water management through dam construction and irrigation -uncontrolled urbanization or urban sprawl -Resistance to pesticide chemicals used to control certain disease vectors -Climate variability and change -Migration and international travel and trade -Accidental or intentional human introduction of pathogens

Keystone species

A species that influences the survival of many other species in an ecosystem -Ecosystems with keystone species occur where the species diversity and diversity of predator-pray relationships within the food web are modest or low -Dissapearance of a keystone species can cause a trophic cascade

Extreme weather events due to global warming

Increased and number and severity of extreme events like heat waves, floods, and hurricanes

When did WHO approve of the first malaria vaccine?

October 2021

Sea Otters and Kelp

Sea urchins eat kelp. Otters eat sea urchins. -In the 18th centery, the population of sea otters were wiped from humans and sea urchins increased and decimated the kelp forest -Otters were reintroduced and all was good in the hood -Except for Steller's sea cow where their starvation and extinction occured due to human hunting and the loss of their kelp forest that they also ate.