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India prone to vector-borne diseases, heatwaves, say experts(DTE , Climate Change , GS paper 3 )

India's extreme vulnerability to climate change will have a direct impact on the health of its population, expertssaid at a seminar on Friday. The World Health Organization has predicted in a report that between 2030-50,climate change will cause 250,000 additional deaths.

The Himalayan region is prone to vector-borne diseases, especially malaria and dengue, Ramesh Dhiman of theNational Institute of Malaria Research, said at a seminar on “Climate Change and Health Risks”. The event wasorganised by the French embassy in association with the Council on Energy, Environment and Water.

Another major problem which India will have to deal with is the prevalence of heatwaves. According to DileepMavalankar, Director of the Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar, “Heat stress is an understudied area ofclimate change.”

He cited the instance of slum dwellers and construction-site workers, who are not aware about the dangers ofheat, adding that strengthening the information network to fight heatwave is important.

India will witness a temperature rise of about 2-4 degrees Celsius by 2030. A good weather prediction system cango a long way to raise public awareness, Mavalankar added.

B N Satpathy, consultant, NITI Aayog, warned that the nine coastal states in India were highly vulnerable toclimate change. “State governments have not yet come up with a plan to tackle sea-level rise,” he added. Hecited the example of Kovalam where houses reported water seepage.

Admitting that the country has a huge “health burden”, he said low-carbon economic growth path was the need ofthe hour, adding that in the past 50 years no one thought that “high growth rate will ultimately kill you”.

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