Abstract
This paper addresses an often overlooked aspect of climate change impacts on child health: the amplification of existing child health inequities by climate change. Although the effects of climate change on child health will likely be negative, the distribution of these impacts across populations will be uneven. The burden of climate change-related ill-health will fall heavily on the world’s poorest and socially-disadvantaged children, who already have poor survival rates and low life expectancies due to issues including poverty, endemic disease, undernutrition, inadequate living conditions and socio-economic disadvantage. Climate change will exacerbate these existing inequities to disproportionately affect disadvantaged children. We discuss heat stress, extreme weather events, vector-borne diseases and undernutrition as exemplars of the complex interactions between climate change and inequities in child health.
Highlights
The impacts of climate change on health will vary significantly across the globe due to differences in the underlying health status of populations, and the uneven distribution of social, economic and Children 2014, 1 cultural factors that affect different population group’s exposure and capacity to respond and adapt to environmental hazards
Climate change will have a disproportionate effect on the most vulnerable and disadvantaged populations—those whose lives and livelihoods are heavily dependent on the environment, who already experience high disease burdens that are affected by environmental hazards, and who live in physical and social conditions that are vulnerable to environmental pressures
The inherent biological vulnerabilities of children interact with the health risks associated with social disadvantage to amplify the risks to child health from climate change, both within and between populations and regions
Summary
The impacts of climate change on health will vary significantly across the globe due to differences in the underlying health status of populations, and the uneven distribution of social, economic and Children 2014, 1 cultural factors that affect different population group’s exposure and capacity to respond and adapt to environmental hazards. There are already dramatic differences in the life chances for a child depending on the circumstances in which they are born, grow, work and age. This reflects the unequal distribution of many essential determinants of health, such as access to clean water, adequate sanitation systems, a nutritious diet, safe housing and gender equality. We discuss four examples of major climate-related risks to child health (heat stress, extreme weather events, vector-borne diseases and undernutrition), and show how these child health threats are exacerbated by inequities in social, economic and cultural factors. We conclude by discussing the strong synergies between what is needed to provide every child with the chance to live a long, healthy and productive life, and the adaptations required to respond to current and future climate risks in general
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call