Global climate change and health in Canadian children

Question 1

Effects of climate change particularly on the North?

Answer 1

• Thinning land and sea ice in the North making hunting increasingly dangerous
• Sea ice is melting, soon will open the Arctic passage year-round
• Permafrost instability affecting housing and infrastructure

Question 2

Effects of climate change on rest of Canada?

Answer 2

• Flooding
• Prolonged drought in Praires
• Rising sea levels, eroding land mass

Question 3

Why are children more at risk for effects of climate change on health?

Answer 3

-Metabolize more per kilo, have more exposure time in their lives

Question 4

Who else is more at risk for effects of climate change on health?

Answer 4

• Low SES
• Indigenous
• Chronic illness

Question 5

Specific climate-related risks to health?

Answer 5

• Heat- and cold-related morbidity and mortality
• -highest in infants and young children
• -infants temperature regulation systems are immature
• -chronic health condition or in substandard or contaminated environments at risk
• Natural hazards and extreme weather events
• -can cause injury and death
• -displacement from home, life in overcrowded emergency shelter, socio-emotional or longer term mental health effects from stress, or the loss of loved ones, possessions, family, livelihood, and routines
• -food and water shortages or contamination
• -interruptions in health care and education
• Increasing air pollution
• -particulates from wildfires, smoke, and airborne dust, ground-level ozone, pollens, and spore
• -respiratory and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality
• -risk factor for cancer
• -prenatal and early life exposures to air pollution are particularly hazardous
• Increasingly contaminated water sources
• -water-borne infections: S.typhi, Giardia, E. coli, Cryptosporidium, amebiasis when flooding affects sewage
• -toxic algal blooms and increased growth of Vibrio species in warming ses
• -warmer seasons –> food contamination –> GI infections
• Infection risks associated with insects, ticks, and rodents
• -increasing as distribution patterns change
• -certain vector-borne infections, such as Lyme disease, are on the rise
• Stratospheric ozone depletion
• -increasing exposure to UV radiation
• -Worst in the North, where ozone layer is thinner
• -people living at mid-latitudes are at greater risk than previously for developing sunburns, skin cancers, cataracts, or immune system compromise
• -Children are at lifetime risk for developing melanoma from prolonged exposure

Question 6

Practice points for clinicians?

Answer 6

• Learning more about climate-related health effects and diseases
• Expanding the differential diagnosis as infection patterns change
• Anticipatory guidance: safe food handling in warmer weather, communicating risks for water contamination with heavy rain events, promoting protective clothing and repellents
• Understanding pollen and air quality forecasts
• Monitoring local UV index levels and counselling enhanced sun protection

Question 7

Challenges and opportunities re climate change?

Answer 7

• Advocating all levels of government for actions to mitigate further climate change and adapt to existing effects. For example, policies to reduce reliance on automotive transport and improve walkability and bike paths in urban and suburban neighbourhoods, to facilitate transfer of outdoor sports to indoor facilities on poor air quality days, and to develop local infrastructure that reduces fossil fuel energy use and flooding or fire risks, are crucial for public health.
• Volunteering to serve on local or regional planning committees for heat/cold/disaster/extreme weather events, to ensure they consider and provide for children’s health needs.
• Recommending trainee education on climate-related health issues.
• Acting as role models, and encouraging individual, family, and community leaders to make choices that promote environmental sustainability and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.