Climate change and health effects: everybody's responsibility
The article has focused on the role of health professionals in reducing effects of climate change in health. We fully agree to the role of health professionals in this regard but that does not mean that only healthcare professionals are alone responsible for bringing about pressure on Governments to plan and make policy for reducing carbons and environmental pollutants.
The role of industries in making equipments, machines, electronic items with reduction in chlorofluorocarbons and carbon dioxide emission cannot be neglected. Industry leaders should proactively come forward in bringing about the changes. Sensitization of the population on the use of woods, coal, cow-dung for cooking can be done by school teachers, nursing personnel, community level health workers both in school and home settings. However, the Government should make a policy to reduce the use of these fuels and replace them by natural gas based fuels (petroleum natural gas). The public can be educated through mass media viz. television, radio, newspapers, etc., by short educative messages within the news programmes or entertainment shows. Doctors, on the other hand, play a role in health promotive approaches and take care of the cases affected by heat, cold or environmental effects. Community level bodies such as resident welfare associations, gram panchayat leaders in rural areas of India can proactively spread the message of reducing carbon by way of reducing burning of vegetable stub, dried leaves, dried waste in their surroundings and fields, etc. Thus, everyone should play a role in reducing carbon and pollutants in the environment.
Competing interests:
No competing interests
27 October 2016
Mongjam Meghachandra Singh
Director-Professor, co-author: Assistant Professor
Reeta Devi
Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi; co-author: IGNOU, New Delhi
Department of Community Medicine, MAMC, New Delhi; School of Health Sciences, IGNOU, New Delhi
Rapid Response:
Climate change and health effects: everybody's responsibility
The article has focused on the role of health professionals in reducing effects of climate change in health. We fully agree to the role of health professionals in this regard but that does not mean that only healthcare professionals are alone responsible for bringing about pressure on Governments to plan and make policy for reducing carbons and environmental pollutants.
The role of industries in making equipments, machines, electronic items with reduction in chlorofluorocarbons and carbon dioxide emission cannot be neglected. Industry leaders should proactively come forward in bringing about the changes. Sensitization of the population on the use of woods, coal, cow-dung for cooking can be done by school teachers, nursing personnel, community level health workers both in school and home settings. However, the Government should make a policy to reduce the use of these fuels and replace them by natural gas based fuels (petroleum natural gas). The public can be educated through mass media viz. television, radio, newspapers, etc., by short educative messages within the news programmes or entertainment shows. Doctors, on the other hand, play a role in health promotive approaches and take care of the cases affected by heat, cold or environmental effects. Community level bodies such as resident welfare associations, gram panchayat leaders in rural areas of India can proactively spread the message of reducing carbon by way of reducing burning of vegetable stub, dried leaves, dried waste in their surroundings and fields, etc. Thus, everyone should play a role in reducing carbon and pollutants in the environment.
Competing interests: No competing interests