Posts tagged health

Climate change a major threat to global health: WHO

0 Comments read Environment & Development, Health & Science
Climate change is impacting health. Photo Credit: © Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 11.04.2022 (SciDev.Net): Climate change poses a serious threat to human health that calls for urgent action and global collaboration on scales seen in the COVID-19 response, says the World Health Organization (WHO).

“If we don’t take action today on planet health, we are putting our future health at risk. And when health is at risk, everything is at risk. That’s what we have learned from COVID-19,” Takeshi Kasai, WHO regional director for the Western Pacific Region said addressing a virtual press conference from Manila on 7 April, World Health Day

“Climate crisis is also a health crisis since climate change affects health in many different ways,” Kasai said, emphasising the need to build sustainable, climate-resilient health systems.

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Child labour rampant in Bangladesh’s leather industry, study

0 Comments read Business and Trade, Health & Science

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 22.07.2021 (SciDev.Net): Children as young as seven years are working with hazardous chemicals, heavy machinery or carrying heavy loads, endangering their health and lives in Bangladesh’s lucrative leather industry, according to a study.

Globally, about 160 million children were subjected to child labour at the beginning of 2020, with nine million additional children at risk due to the impact of COVID-19, according to UNICEF. Almost half of them were in hazardous work that directly imperils their health and moral development, the UN children’s agency said.

The study, published this month and led by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), a UK-based international development policy think tank, comes as the world marks 2021 as the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour.

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Climate plans lag as Asia tops temperature-linked deaths

0 Comments read Climate Change, Environment & Development, Health & Science
Low-lying and crowded coastal cities in East and South Asia most impacted by temperature related mortality. Photo Credit: ©Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 12.07.2021 (SciDev.Net): Asia accounts for more than half of the over five million global deaths attributed to ambient cold and hot temperatures, according to an international study. But many governments are failing to prioritise health in their climate change strategies, experts warn.

The study, published 1 July in The Lancet Planetary Health, found that mortality rates in low-lying and crowded coastal cities in East and South Asia were particularly affected by temperature.

Researchers found that 9.4 per cent of global deaths from 2000 to 2019 could be attributed to non-optimal temperatures, with most of those caused by exposure to cold. However, this is predicted to change as global warming increases heat-related deaths. Continue reading →