Weather forecasters and disaster management agencies are warning people to be prepared as a heatwave engulfs northern India. This has raised concerns about the preparedness of public health infrastructure.
Public health systems are the first line of defense, and their dual challenge is to plan short-term for vulnerable seasons and develop long-term strategies for climate-induced health crises.
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Approximately 255 people died from heat waves in the country in 2023, according to government data submitted to parliament. Although numbers are down compared to a decade ago, climate scientists are warning of heat-related illnesses, especially in vulnerable communities, as temperatures reach new records.
Bhavesh Hazarika, an economist at the National Institute for Fiscal Policy Research (NIPFP), said vulnerable populations in urban and rural areas with limited access to health care are disproportionately affected by these diseases. said.
“Addressing these threats requires strong public health infrastructure, disaster preparedness, climate adaptation measures, and efforts to mitigate the fundamental drivers of climate change, while also requiring collaboration across sectors and communities. It is necessary,” Hazarika told Business Standard.
But there is uncertainty about how the public health infrastructure will be able to cope. “Structural weaknesses highlighted by the pandemic include inadequate health supplies, shortages of health workers, and disparities in access to health services exacerbated by caste, class, gender, geographic, and community inequities. Hazarika said.
The intense heat will be a challenge for the next two months.
“There are three types of heat stroke. The mildest is heat cramps, which is caused by dehydration and extreme heat. More advanced stages can lead to heat stroke. This can lead to nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and headaches. An extreme form of heat-related illness is heatstroke, which is less common but can be fatal and requires emergency hospitalization,” said Max Super, Saket, New Delhi. said Rommel Tikou, head of internal medicine at Specialty Hospital.
Extreme weather events such as heatwaves, floods and droughts can also cause waterborne diseases such as cholera and typhoid, vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue, respiratory diseases, mental health problems, malnutrition and re-emerging diseases. . , Kyasanur forest disease, etc.
Typhoid fever, waterborne gastroenteritis and stomach problems are on the rise, Tickoo said. Heat waves may intensify from May to June, and waterborne diseases may increase rapidly after the monsoon.
climate insurance
In 2019, India launched the National Program on Climate Change and Human Health (NPCCHH) in collaboration with the World Health Organization to strengthen public health response to climate change.
According to publicly available information, the program's lead agency, the National Centers for Disease Control, has not yet finalized a national action plan for climate change and human health.
In February, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) conducted a workshop on heatwaves. Harshal Salve, AIIMS Regional Medical Center, Delhi, said in his presentation that apart from capacity building and training of medical staff, there is an urgent need for a monitoring framework for climate change-induced disasters and the next step is to formulate SOPs. He suggested that there was. (Standard Operating Procedures) for dealing with such emergencies.
He said officials from state-level health departments and disaster management departments need to work together to develop SOPs.
Another presentation was by the Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH) in Gandhinagar, India's first university focused on public health. Dileep Mavalankar, former director of IIPH, who gave a presentation, said that the first step in building a heat stroke prevention plan (HAP) was to obtain data on the number of deaths due to heat stroke, but local authorities have not been able to access the data. He said he could not get it. He suggested collecting data from crematoriums, emergency admissions and even ambulance transport. He said an annual analysis of heat mortality data from Ahmedabad showed a reduction in hospitalizations and improved diagnosis.
IIPH was instrumental in building HAP in Asia's first city, Ahmedabad. The measure was a result of the 2010 heatwave incident in Ahmedabad that claimed 1,300 lives. Citing this incident, Malvankar concluded by underlining, “This is the beginning of climate change and it's only going to get worse. So let's prepare now for the next 80 years.”
Preparing for the heat Measures for the medical field
Harshal Salve, AIIMS Regional Medical Center, Delhi, at NDMA Heatwave Workshop in February
Rights advocacy and communication through multi-stakeholder engagement
> Apply epidemiological principles
> Coordination with state-level health departments
> Involvement of medical universities
> Trained human resources are key to combating climate change
> Developing climate-resilient medical systems
> Weather monitoring, climate and health data integration
