Global Environmental Change and Health
Large-scale and global environmental hazards to human health include climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, loss of biodiversity, changes in hydrological systems and the supplies of freshwater, land degradation and stresses on food-producing systems.   Appreciation of this scale and type of influence on human health requires a new perspective which focuses on ecosystems and on the recognition that the foundations of long-term good health in populations rely in great part on the continued stability and functioning of the biosphere's life-supporting systems. It also brings an appreciation of the complexity of the systems upon which we depend.       Link to WHO Geneva       Global Quantifying Environment Health Impacts

Synthesis workshop on climate variability, climate change and health in small-island states

 

A Workshop on Climate Variability, Climate Change and Health in Small-Island States was conducted on Bandos Island Resort, Maldives, from 1 – 4 December 2003. Specific goals of the Synthesis Workshop included, inter alia informing health scientists, practitioners, and officials of the impacts of climate variability, and long-term climate change in the Indian Ocean, Pacific, Caribbean and other regions. Presentations included: Weather, climate variability and climate change; challenges of climate prediction and its application in the health sector; climate change and health; sustainable development in small-island developing states; climate forecasts and applications; estimating the burden of disease from climate change; predictions, prevention, and preparedness: application of climate information for public health; analysis of impacts of climate variability on malaria transmission in Sri Lanka and the development of an early-warning system; climate variability and climate change and health in small-island states: the Pacific experience; water and sanitation issues in the Maldives;climate change and health in Indonesia. The report is available here