Rising floodwaters bring wave of illness
Published on: October 16, 2023.
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A Closer Examination: The Rising Impact of Climate Change on Health In Pakistan
Muhammad Yaqoob, a highly-respected village chief in Pakistan, watched in horror as a cataclysmic flood, induced by an unprecedented heatwave, laid waste to his village last September. Like an unending biblical plague, death and disease seemed to radiate from the murky waters, affecting humans and animals alike.
With the rising temperatures came an onslaught of health issues triggered by stagnant floodwaters that bred mosquitoes and instigated itchy dermatitis. In the midst of chaos supplied by nature’s fury, people’s livelihoods – majorly centered around the local rice business – suffered. Flooded fields meant unsown white broken rice, fewer meals, and an uncertainty towards the once-reliable rice exporters from Pakistan.
Desperate circumstances turned Yaqoob’s village into a small-scale depiction of a more significant phenomenon; climate change and the death and disease it is spurring globally. As voiced by international experts and supported by recent data analysis from the Washington Post, Pakistan is the new ground zero for climate change-driven health risks.
The Looming Heat Peril
Rice exporters in Pakistan, including cities like Jacobabad and Hyderabad, are projected to experience several months each year of extreme heat, putting human health and Pakistan rice cultivation at risk.
By the year 2030, a staggering 500 million people, particularly in South Asia and the Middle East, could be exposed to such extreme heat conditions for a month or more. The largest population at risk appears to be in India, followed closely by Pakistan, with around 190 million people destined to endure such dire conditions.
Climate Change and Hazardous Health Impacts
On a global stage, climate change is becoming more and more synonymous with mass disease outbreaks and death. Peruvians lately have been stricken by a historical outbreak of dengue, while wildfires in Canada caused countless asthma attacks across the US.
Alarmingly, the situation has escalated to where Professor Kristie L Ebi, from the Centre for Health and the Global Environment at the University of Washington, states, “We can say now that people are dying from climate change.”
Although rice suppliers in Pakistan and countless other businesses in less affluent nations contribute least to the escalating climate crisis, they are the ones likely to face the most significant brunt of the impact. The nation’s string of calamities, culminating in the destruction of 13% of its healthcare system, exemplifies this.
With the continuous escalation of global temperatures, it is more important now than ever to brace for this imminent health crisis and safeguard the livelihoods of Pakistan rice suppliers and other vital rice exporters.
