Insights into the Shifting Dynamics of Climate Change and Human Health in N.E. India: A Rapid Review

Abstract

Climate change is the greatest existential challenge to planetary and human health and is dictated by a shift in the Earth’s weather and air conditions owing to anthropogenic activity. The interactions between climate change and health outcomes are diverse and complex and include several exposure pathways that might promote the development of non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, etc. The World Health Organization estimates that the warming and precipitation trends due to anthropogenic climate change of the past 30 years already claim over 150,000 lives annually. Climate change and human health are interconnected through a direct and indirect pathway. The increase in high temperatures due to climate change has a tremendous impact on human hydration levels and can cause heat stress in diabetics with cardiovascular complications leading to strokes. It is difficult to disregard the harmful impact of heat waves on the geriatric population all over the world, due to varied physiological conditions related to socioeconomic level. Exposure to high temperature prompts significant stress and strain on the thermoregulatory responses to heat stress in CVD. Studies reported that environmental effects from climate change have negative impacts on metabolic control, glucometer availability, insulin pumps, and medication gradually threatening the health, well-being, economy, and environment of the world. Reviewing the interconnections between the expanding climatic variability in climate change and human health it seems the growing risk factors are enormous and have tremendously fueled global health disparities.