April 26, 2011 – “Climate change has become the number one global public health issue,” said researcher Véronique Lapaige, during a conference presented on Earth Day in Montreal1.
Indeed, the World Health Organization (WHO) has decided to set up an action plan to tackle this problem.
In Quebec, Véronique Lapaige, researcher at the Institut national de santé publique du Québec, is working to put in place new means to help the most vulnerable groups and support health professionals to better adapt to climate change (heat waves , floods, droughts, etc.).
According to her, the situation is “very worrying”. Everyone will be affected and some segments of the population will be more affected than others. “Climate change affects things as fundamental to health as air, water, food and disease,” she explains.
Jacques Languirand participated in the
conference as spokesperson for the
Earth day. He recalled
the urgency to act.
Public health authorities must therefore be prepared to be faced with an increase not only in respiratory problems linked to air pollution (asthma, respiratory allergies, etc.), but also to a host of other health problems, such as digestive disorders (caused by ingestion of contaminated food), heart disease, infectious diseases carried by insects and rodents, dehydration and stress (in case of extreme disaster).
In addition, during a heat wave, some commonly prescribed drugs can have new side effects. This is particularly the case of psychotropic drugs, a family of drugs which act on the central nervous system and which are used, for example, to treat depression and anxiety disorders.
The researcher’s work is part of a strategy of the World Health Organization (WHO) to face climate change. According to the WHO, climate change is “a major new threat to public health and is changing the way we should approach the protection of vulnerable populations”2.
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To learn more about the effects of climate change on health, listen to our interview How is pollution harming your heart ?, with Dr Francois Reeves. |
Marie-Michèle Mantha – PasseportSanté.net
1. The conference, presented on April 21, 2011, was organized by the sustainable development committee of Hôpital Louis-H. Fountain.
2. For more information: www.who.int/globalchange/climate/en/ [Consulté le 26 avril 2011].
