A recent study has shown that heat related deaths in the country have gone up by more than 50 percent | India News
When doing a comparison between the figures of 2000-2004 and 2017-2021, The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change: Health at the mercy of fossil fuels, found that there has been a 55 percent increase in heat related deaths in India.
India had reported 20,000 heat related deaths in adults over the age of 65 annually in 2000 to 2004, and the number grew to about 31,000 deaths in 2017 to 2021.
Globally there were 1.9 lakh heat related death in 2000-2004 of those over 65 years of age. This increased to 3.10 lakhs deaths in the year 2017-2021.
As per the researchers, Exposure to extreme heat affects health directly, exacerbating underlying conditions such as cardiovascular and respiratory disease, and causing heat stroke, adverse pregnancy outcomes, worsened sleep patterns, poor mental health, and increased injury-related death. It also affects health indirectly by limiting people’s capacity to work and exercise.
The study had revealed that in 2021-22, among other countries, India had touched record temperatures.
In March–April, 2022, India and Pakistan experienced a heatwave that was 30 times more likely to have happened because of climate change.
From 2012-2021, infants under one year old experienced an average of 72 million more person-days of heatwaves per year, compared to 1985-2005. For the same period, adults over 65 experienced 301 million more person-days. This means that, on average, from 2012-2021, each infant experienced an additional 0.9 heatwave days per year while adults over 65 experienced an additional 3.7 per person, compared to 1986-2021, as per the study.
The report added that changing climate is exacerbating the risk of infectious disease outbreaks and threatening global food security with heatwave days associated with more people experiencing food insecurity in 2020 than in 1981–2010.
The heat exposure also had an impact on labour hours of people : In 2021, Indians lost 167.2 billion potential labour hours due to heat exposure with income losses equivalent to about 5.4% of national GDP.
Other ways in which climate change is amplifying the health impacts of multiple crises, is the reduction of duration of growth season of crops — mazie, rice and winter wheat.
India had reported 20,000 heat related deaths in adults over the age of 65 annually in 2000 to 2004, and the number grew to about 31,000 deaths in 2017 to 2021.
Globally there were 1.9 lakh heat related death in 2000-2004 of those over 65 years of age. This increased to 3.10 lakhs deaths in the year 2017-2021.
As per the researchers, Exposure to extreme heat affects health directly, exacerbating underlying conditions such as cardiovascular and respiratory disease, and causing heat stroke, adverse pregnancy outcomes, worsened sleep patterns, poor mental health, and increased injury-related death. It also affects health indirectly by limiting people’s capacity to work and exercise.
The study had revealed that in 2021-22, among other countries, India had touched record temperatures.
In March–April, 2022, India and Pakistan experienced a heatwave that was 30 times more likely to have happened because of climate change.
From 2012-2021, infants under one year old experienced an average of 72 million more person-days of heatwaves per year, compared to 1985-2005. For the same period, adults over 65 experienced 301 million more person-days. This means that, on average, from 2012-2021, each infant experienced an additional 0.9 heatwave days per year while adults over 65 experienced an additional 3.7 per person, compared to 1986-2021, as per the study.
The report added that changing climate is exacerbating the risk of infectious disease outbreaks and threatening global food security with heatwave days associated with more people experiencing food insecurity in 2020 than in 1981–2010.
The heat exposure also had an impact on labour hours of people : In 2021, Indians lost 167.2 billion potential labour hours due to heat exposure with income losses equivalent to about 5.4% of national GDP.
Other ways in which climate change is amplifying the health impacts of multiple crises, is the reduction of duration of growth season of crops — mazie, rice and winter wheat.
