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If heat wave is on the rise with temperatures reaching 45 degrees Celsius in some states including New Delhi, heavy rains in some southern areas have triggered an alert for vector-borne diseases like dengue. Doctors are also blaming extreme weather for diseases like Covid and monkeypox.
To prepare medical professionals to treat such conditions more appropriately and timely, the Health Ministry is considering including climate change education in the curriculum for medical students, according to two officials aware of the matter.
Many doctors in India are still not knowledgeable enough to treat health threats arising from climate change or natural disasters, one of them said.
“A lot of diseases are emerging due to climate change. But all the doctors do not know much about them and hence are not able to provide proper treatment,” said the official, declining to be identified. ”A basic course on climate action at the MBBS level will better enable them to treat such situations,” the official said.
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare did not respond to emailed queries on the matter.
What is heatstroke?
The National Center for Disease Control recently issued guidelines regarding the treatment of patients suffering from heat stroke.
NCDC and the National Program on Climate Change and Human Health also prepared guidelines for hospitals regarding heat-related or heatstroke deaths, as a part of introducing evidence-based medical decision-making. Are.
The above official said, “It is not easy to identify a patient who died due to heatstroke; this can only be done by experts.”
The government is also working on an action plan to tackle the impact of climate change on people’s health at the state level. Most of the states and union territories, in collaboration with NCDC, have sent the draft of their action plans to the Union Health Ministry for approval.
These plans include a set of guidelines to handle the impact of climate change on people’s health over the next five years. Each plan has four main chapters – vulnerability, demography, disease and environmental hazards.
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The World Health Organization predicts that between 2030 and 2050 there will be 250,000 additional climate-related deaths worldwide each year from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress, with women, children and people with disabilities particularly at risk.
UNICEF has estimated that approximately 25% of children in India experience high or extremely high water vulnerability, and by 2040 approximately 600 million children globally will be living in areas of extremely high water stress.
High probability of new virus
NCDC is also working on vector-borne diseases and zoonotic diseases spread from animals to humans, which may become serious due to climate change.
“The impact of climate change on vector-borne diseases is clearly visible, and zoonotic diseases are also a growing concern,” said a second official familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Reduction in forest areas will lead to an increase in zoonotic diseases, and it is very likely that new viruses will emerge.”
Public health expert Dr. Rajiv Jayadevan said it is important for doctors to move beyond common health complications like diabetes and heart diseases and also focus on diseases caused by climate change.
“Climate change is real. Animals are entering human habitations, which was not happening before. “Zoonotic diseases like COVID, Ebola, monkeypox are just a few examples of how climate change is threatening public health,” said Dr. Jayadevan.
“Then there are also vector-borne diseases like dengue, which is a growing threat,” the doctor said. “There is no doubt that mosquito production and their behavior patterns have changed.”
Droughts or floods also result in diseases, deprivation and poor health. He said, “It is clear that all of these processes are interconnected and do not exist in isolation…Doctors must go beyond studying existing diseases listed in the curriculum to learning how to prevent emerging diseases.” and how to manage them.”
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