| | | A child sits next to an undocumented water well in Delhi. Children are among the most vulnerable to illness and disease related to climate change. Photo © J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue |
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| Conceived seven years ago as a means of tracking the connections between human health and planetary upheaval, the Lancet Countdown report frames the risks of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions in terms of the changes that could be experienced by a child born this year.
“The damage done in early childhood is persistent and pervasive, with health consequences lasting for a lifetime,” said Nick Watts, executive director of The Lancet Countdown, in a statement. “Without immediate action from all countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions, gains in wellbeing and life expectancy will be compromised, and climate change will come to define the health of an entire generation.”
“Climate change is already damaging the health of the world’s children and it is set to shape their future,” Kristine Belesova, a report co-author, told Circle of Blue. “With business as usual, a child born today will face threats to health at every stage of life.” |
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Intense flooding hit several nations in eastern Africa recently, including Somalia, Kenya, and South Sudan. The deluges have affected more than a million people in the region.
As of November 5, UNICEF estimates that 547,000 people have been impacted by flooding in Somalia, including 200,000 children. In all, about 370,000 Somalis have fled their homes. Many are living in temporary camps, where clean water, food, and medicine are in short supply. |
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What's Up With Water - November 11, 2019
“What’s Up With Water” condenses the need-to-know news on the world’s water into a snapshot for the start of the workweek via podcast.
This week's episode features coverage on Canada, where hundreds of thousands of people have been living with high levels of lead in their drinking water, unbeknownst to them. Additional international coverage includes a look at the east of Africa, where devastating floods have displaced hundreds of thousands of people in South Sudan and Somalia. For news in the U.S., California’s electrical utilities are shutting off power to minimize further wildfires. But for many, no power means no water as well. Finally, Circle of Blue continues its coverage of Legionnaires’ disease, an increasing danger in the United States.
You can listen to the latest edition of What's Up With Water, as well as all past editions, by downloading the podcasts on iTunes, following Circle of Blue on Spotify, following on iHeart Radio, and subscribing on SoundCloud. |
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| From Circle of Blue's Archives: |
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| | | Over a period of three days in April 2014, more than 600 millimeters of rain fell on Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands. The storm exposed severe vulnerabilities in the city’s health infrastructure, of which 75 percent is located in areas vulnerable to damage by a future flood event. Photo © Eileen Natuzzi |
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| In the urgent campaign to cut carbon emissions and curb global warming, perhaps the most poignant call to action are images of rising sea levels gnawing away at isolated, low-lying Pacific islands where citizens could lose their countries. But long before the last scraps of land succumb to the great ocean, fiercer storms brought on by climate change could hobble the health infrastructure of island nations and exact a steep toll in human lives, according to a study published this week in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
The study examines the aftermath of a storm that hit Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands on Guadalcanal, in April 2014. More than 600 millimeters (24 inches) fell in three days; rivers overtopped their banks and sent water gushing into riverside neighborhoods. Floodwaters also inundated three of the city’s nine health clinics, and prompted the evacuation of patients from several of the wards at the National Referral Hospital, the country’s top medical center. All told, the floods killed 21 people directly and 10 more in the outbreak of infectious diarrhea that followed. Per capita, it was the deadliest single event disaster in 2014. |
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