US Climate and Health Alliance

Climate change and children’s health—a call for research on what works to protect children

Abstract

Climate change is affecting and will increasingly influence human health and wellbeing. Children are particularly vulnerable to the impact of climate change. An extensive literature review regarding the impact of climate change on children’s health was conducted in April 2012 by searching electronic databases PubMed, Scopus, ProQuest, ScienceDirect, and Web of Science, as well as relevant websites, such as IPCC and WHO. Climate change affects children’s health through increased air pollution, more weather-related disasters, more frequent and intense heat waves, decreased water quality and quantity, food shortage and greater exposure to toxicants. As a result, children experience greater risk of mental disorders, malnutrition, infectious diseases, allergic diseases and respiratory diseases. Mitigation measures like reducing carbon pollution emissions, and adaptation measures such as early warning systems and post-disaster counseling are strongly needed. Future health research directions should focus on: (1) identifying whether climate change impacts on children will be modified by gender, age and socioeconomic status; (2) refining outcome measures of children’s vulnerability to climate change; (3) projecting children’s disease burden under climate change scenarios; (4) exploring children’s disease burden related to climate change in low-income countries; and (5) identifying the most cost-effective mitigation and adaptation actions from a children’s health perspective.

Resource Type
Peer-reviewed article
Authors
Zhiwei Xu Perry E. Sheffield Wenbiao Hu Hong Su Weiwei Yu Xin Qi Shilu Tong
Resource URL
http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/9/9/3298/htm
Publication
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Journal Abbr.
Int J Environ Res Public Health
Volume
9
Issue
9
Pages
3298-3316
Date
Sep 2012
DOI
10.3390/ijerph9093298
ISSN
1660-4601
Health and Human Impact
Overview/general
Other
Vulnerable populations

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