Word Health Day: How Can you Keep Yourself Healthy and Avoid Summer Dehydration?

India faces the combined challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate crisis. Given these commitments, 2022 is critical for India’s and the world’s implementation. Climate change is already causing significant weather changes, such as the unprecedented flooding to heatwaves in March. According to the sobering 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, the world will face dire climate change-related consequences if we do not change course.

Consider this: under the worst emission release scenario, Delhi, India’s national capital, could become the country’s heat capital by the end of the century. The second-placed city is Hyderabad, which is expected to warm by 4.7°C.

The question arises as to how this rise in temperature affects our health, particularly during the summer.

Two disastrous impacts of climate change are temperature increases and changes in rainfall patterns. This causes a devastating effect on our lives, from the food we eat and the air we breathe to the water we drink. Not to forget, the weather around us is changing, and it’s causing a deterring impact on flora and fauna around us.

The question now arises, who does this climate change impact and affect the most? Beginning with the people living in developing countries who bear the maximum brunt. They suffer the most of the health risks, and due to the low levels of medical infrastructure available around them, they suffer the most. The problem is also severe amongst pregnant women, young children, the elderly, and people with comorbidities who face a more difficult time controlling their body temperature when faced with high heat intensities.

World health day is an annual celebration on the 7th of April. This day marks the founding date of the World Health Organization (WHO). This day, WHO focuses on the global attention needed for urgent actions to keep humans and the planet healthy in a pandemic, polluted world and rising diseases like cancer and asthma.

Let us concentrate on our health and well-being as a society on this World Health Day. We must not forget that our planet and our health are of utmost importance.

When we speak of the deterring impacts, the effect on our respiratory and cardiovascular organs rules the list. Shifting weather patterns and warmer temperatures can create havoc on the air we breathe, which may lead to asthma and other respiratory diseases.

The sudden onslaught of seasonal infections is caused by the warming temperatures and changes in the perception levels. Vectors and bacteria cause diseases that include heat stroke and dehydration and cardiovascular, respiratory, and cerebrovascular disease.

Another factor of concern is the water we drink and the air we breathe. When it becomes contaminated, and people drink and breathe in that air, they become ill. Heatwaves, storms, and changes in temperature all contribute to the harmful impacts of climate change. These cause gastrointestinal diseases which include diarrhea and dysentery which in turn affects our gut, digestion system, and nervous systems and may cause liver and kidney damage in the long run.