Transcript The Impact of Global Warming in Poor Countries O. Saavedra, MD, FACP

The Impact of Global
Warming in Poor Countries
O. Saavedra, MD, FACP
Impacts & Inequalities
“Catastrophes are not democratic.”
Loss of healthy life years in Africa will be 500 times that in
Europe
IPCC – adverse health effects in poor countries
Unequal access to environmental fundamentals
1.1 billion people lack safe drinking water
2.6 billion lack basic sanitation
UNMDG’s - unachievable
Millennium Development Goals
Eradicate extreme
hunger & poverty
Promote gender equality
& empower women
Improve maternal health
Ensure environmental
sustainability
Achieve universal primary
education
Reduce child mortality
Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria
& other diseases
Develop global partnership for
development
“Of all the forms of inequality,
injustice in health is the most
shocking and the most
inhumane”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Poor Countries and Climate Change
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Economy dependency on agriculture
Population growth, rainfall pattern, water
Falls in crop yields – increase undernourished
Diverting fertile land to biofuel production
Deforestation. Intern. Alliance of Forest People
Extreme events
Climate sensitive viral diseases: humans, etc
Increase in conflicts, displacement
11th Annual Earth Day Expo
Saturday, April 26, 2008 – Winnie Palmer Hospital Auditorium
Earth Web Foundation
Vision statement
“Humankind has not woven the web of
life. We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to
ourselves. All things are bound
together. All things are connected.”
Chief Seatle,1864
Dedicated to strengthening the threads
that connect all of us by focusing on
health, environmental and educational
initiatives.
Empowering individuals of all races,
socioeconomic classes and nations to
improve living conditions for current and
future generations
Our Response
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Public education – improving awareness
Medical curriculum – minimize GHGs
Health sector training, disaster preparedness
Prevention = vaccines, pest control, food hygiene,
nutritional support
Health care to all – “a human right”
CDC (www.cdc.gov/nceh/climatechange)