Climate change
PREPARED BY :-
MS.TAGHREED HAWSAWI
SUPERVISES BY :-
DR. ZANAB HUSSIAN

Learning Objectives :-
 By the end of presentation the learner will be able to:-
1- Define Climate change definition
2- Understand climate change effect
3- Anticipate financial impact of climate change among population
4- Evaluate climate change health impact
5- Combiner climate change Health Disparities verity papulation age and
gender
6- Recognize nursing role with climate change
7-To implement REAP Model of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy

Outline :-
 Introduction
 Definition of Climate Change
 Effects of climate change
 Financial Impacts
 Health Impacts of Climate Change
 Health Disparities
 Nursing Role in climate change
 Nurses’ Professional Obligation

 Climate change has been labeled the greatest threat to public
health and to global health in the 21st century.
 Costs of climate change on health have been slow to emerge
in the research literature, resulting in substantial
underestimates of climate change costs.
 Nursing leaders role are helping patients, communities, and
health care institutions engage in climate change mitigation
activities and in preparing for potential effects of climate
change.
 Health impacts can result from direct exposures to climate
change through changing weather patterns or indirectly
through changes in water availability, air quality, agriculture,
and the economy.

Climate change
A change in the state of the climate that can be identified by changes
in the mean and/or the variability of its properties, and that persists
for an extended period, typically decades or longer.
Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather
patterns. These shifts may be natural, such as through variations in the
solar cycle.

Health Impacts of Climate Change
 Health impacts can result from direct exposures to climate change through changing
weather patterns (e.g., heat waves) or indirectly through changes in water availability, air
quality, and resultant changes in agriculture and the economy.
Heat-Related
Illness
Water
Security and
Drought
Insect-Borne
Illnesses
Respiratory
Disease
Mental
Health

Heat-Related Illness
Heat gain in the human body can be caused by a combination of external heat from
the environment and internal body heat generated from metabolic processes. Rapid
rises in heat gain due to exposure to hotter than average conditions compromises the
body’s ability to regulate temperature and can result in a cascade of illnesses include
rising rates of:-
1- heat stress hyperthermia.
2- exhaustion.
3- heat cramps.
4- heat stroke.
(Amengual, Homar, Brooks, Ramis, Gordaliza & Alonzo, 2014).

Water Security and Drought
The conventional approach for generating greater benefits from
water while limiting its hazards has historically centered on
investment in built or “grey” infrastructure, such as dams, dikes
and reservoirs.
A potential drawback is that major dam construction can exact
unacceptably high costs in terms of its negative impacts on
water-dependent ecosystem services and on the people,
especially in poor rural communities, whose livelihoods are
closely tied to these services.

Insect-Borne Illnesses
As environmental conditions change, the geographic range of the
vectors for illnesses is extended, increasing the potential for infection.
Changes in climate may make insect-borne diseases harder to control.
For example, as temperature increases, the malaria parasite reproduces
at a higher rate and mosquitoes feed more frequently.
Example:-
1- malaria transmission
2- dengue transmission
3- cholera bacteria Vibrio cholera
4- parasitic disease transmitted

Respiratory Disease
Increases in acute respiratory symptoms, resulted increase emergency room visits, weather-
related hospital admissions for A.Infants and B.Elderly and lead to lost school days, and
premature deaths (Costello et al., 2011).
The main diseases of concern are:-
A.asthma, B.rhinosinusitis, C.chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and
D.respiratory tract infections.
Groups at higher risk of climate change effects include:-
1-Individuals with pre-existing cardiopulmonary diseases
2- Disadvantaged individuals.
Respiratory effect duo to climate change :-
1) by directly promoting or aggravating respiratory diseases.
2) by increasing exposure to risk factors for respiratory diseases.

Mental Health
 Climate change may affect mental health directly by exposing people to trauma (Berry, Bowen &
Kjellstrom, 2010).
1- Adverse psychiatric outcomes are well documented in the aftermath of natural disasters (Page &
Howard, 2010).
2- Acute traumatic stress and more chronic stress-related conditions (such as post-traumatic stress
disorder).
3- Aggressive behavior, higher rates of criminal activity, and increased suicide rates (Berry et al.,
2010).

Financial Impacts
Emerging research indicates that the costs of climate changes
are substantial. A study in 2010 found that economic losses
from climate-related disasters, not including health care costs,
had soared from $5 billion to $27 billion US dollars annually
from 1970 to 2010 (Reichenmiller, 2010). Recent estimates
indicate that climate change and weather disasters in 2012
cost the American economy more than $100 billion (EPA,
2016)

Health Disparities
people in poverty may feel less empowered to advocate for better preparedness in their communities. These
elements put them at higher risk for disease, injury or displacement that may result from climate change impacts
(Luber, et.al, 2014).
Indigenous people are also at higher risk (Bennet, et.al, 2014). Native peoples in many places subsist off the
land for wild food and crops, for cultural items, and for housing. Each of these are threatened with climate
change
Elderly people may be more sensitive to heat and susceptible to dehydration. They are more likely than
younger people to have co-morbidities which may then be exacerbated by increased heat and air pollution.
They are also more likely to be on medications whose actions may be altered by heat.
Children around the world are more at risk to climate change impacts (Harvard, 2016). Infants can be quite
sensitive to heat, dehydration, pollution, and infection. Children of all ages are more impacted by pollution,
trauma, dehydration, and starvation than healthy adults
Climate change impacts may put women more at risk of disease, malnutrition, dehydration, injury, sexual
violence, mental health challenges, obstetrical difficulties, and death.

Nursing Role in climate change
 Should be educated well about climate change and staying up to date
to make changes in our personal lives to reduce our carbon footprint.
 To educate our patients and their families and the communities we
serve about climate change, the associated health effects, and ways in
which to both mitigate and respond to
 climate change.
 To work in our communities to be best prepared for climate change-
related emergencies.
 To work within our nursing organizations to help prioritize climate
change and its impacts as a nursing issue.

Nursing Role in climate change
 To work within nursing schools, at colleges and universities, to ensure that climate change,
including mitigation and response, is a required component of nursing curriculum.
 To raise our voices within our communities and through our nursing organizations in
policy arenas at the local, state, and national level to advocate for policies that will
mitigate the current trajectory of global warming.
 To engage in policies and practices that will address equitable distribution of resources for
those who are affected by climate change impacts.
 To develop research agendas that address climate change’s impacts and nursing
interventions
 To work collaboratively with each other in order to bring our best and finest nursing
knowledge and skills to mitigate and address the threats from climate change.

Nurses’ Professional Obligation related to climate change
Nurses contribute to
scientific findings by
researching climate
related topics and
health issues.
For example, nurses
have contributed to the
literature through
epidemiological
studies,
educational frameworks,
policy statements, and
practice initiatives
Nurses educate patients
and professionals, and
have opportunities to
include evidence and
information about
climate change in
Colleges of Nursing, in
continuing education for
nurses, in
patient education
materials, and in efforts
to educate the public
Nurses are influential in
policy decisions,
through advocacy and
by encouraging policy
makers
to support climate
healthy decisions. It is
critical that nurses
educate policy makers
on the need
for strong action on
climate change due to
health impacts.
Nurses deliver direct
care to people of all
ages. Care in the setting
of climate change
includes
understanding health
impacts and treating
individuals and families
for health issues that
arise,
as well as preventing
further climate change
through mitigation
efforts.

Nurses implication strategies to overlap climate
change
• , before beginning assessment, cities should establish goals and identify stakeholders, as well as existing
resources and data sets. It then provides a useful step-by-step checklist of essential and recommended items
to include in the risk assessment itself.
• conduct a researches and studies to cover the gap between clinical and evidence based related to climate
change.
Assess
• inform the community on how best to prepare for climate change prediction measures induced in events.
• Educate the health care worker, community and their patient and patient family abut factors contributing to
climate change and prevention measures.
Prevention
• Deterring Increased temperatures and heat lead to heat stress and heat stroke, which can aggravate heart,
lung, and kidney conditions. Changes cause physical burns, cardiorespiratory problems, long-term breathing
issues, and death. As well,, hypothermia, dismantled infrastructure, poor water quality, increased spread of
vector-borne disease, and death.
Diagnosis
• leaders in the community and leaders in health care, nurses have a strong and valuable voice. By enacting
sustainable practices and advocating for a more climate-resilient future, nurses can initiate meaningful action
right now
Treatment

References
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