Study reveals that climate change affects children’s health more in lower-income countries

• Rising temperatures and extreme weather events are increasing infant mortality and affecting children’s growth and development, according to a study conducted in 130 countries | Photo: Peggychoucair in Pixabay

A study conducted in 130 countries showed that climate change affects children, especially those in low- and middle-income areas.

This is reflected in the article “Climate, weather and children’s health: quantifying the collateral benefits for health”, published in Environmental Research Letters which reveals a gap following combining extensive child health data from several countries with high-resolution climate data.

Research by Shouro Dasgupta of the Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change (CMCC) and Elizabeth Robinson, Director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, suggests that quantifying the negative effects of climate change on children’s health and identifying areas where children are most at risk can support evidence-based policymaking.

The research focuses specifically on studying the impacts of climate change on children’s health in low- and middle-income countries, following a recent scientific review that noted a lack of attention to the effects on children in those nations.

Photo: Unesco.

Climate change negatively impacts people’s health in complex ways that vary over time and across regions, the study says, with direct effects such as increased mortality during heat waves and indirect effects such as changes in the spread of infectious diseases.

According to data analysis, climate change in these countries influences mortality, wasting (loss of body mass) and stunting in a segment of the population particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

Rising temperatures and the impact on children

The study identifies, for example, a complex and non-linear relationship between temperature increases and child health outcomes. However, the results show that both gradual temperature increases and acute climate shocks, such as droughts and heat waves, negatively impact children’s health.

Dasgupta, the study’s lead author, said that “both gradual and acute climate impacts worsen child health.”

In his view, “these impacts are expected to be greater in the future as temperatures rise and the frequency and intensity of extreme events increases.”

According to the data, Saudi Arabia, Chad, Kuwait and Burkina Faso are projected to experience the largest increases in child mortality in the medium term, while Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Niger, Mali and Mauritania face the greatest risks in the long term.

The study therefore highlights the significant health benefits for children of achieving low-emission scenarios, as set out in the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The paper highlights “the clear health co-benefits that can be achieved worldwide by greater efforts to both reduce emissions and adapt to an already changing climate,” said Robinson, another author of the paper.

The study is crucial for policy makers, according to the UNFCCC, which stresses the importance of incorporating socioeconomic data with climate science.

With information from EFE

Related news