Climate Change and Health Policy

Running Head: CLIMATE CHANGE AND HEALTH POLICY 1
Climate Change and Health Policy
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliations

CLIMATE CHANGE AND HEALTH POLICY 2
Climate Change and Health Policy
Climate change posits a serious health challenge in the present world giving rise to multiple
issues in the medical conditions of the communities. Climatic scientists have unanimously
agreed that there exists a severe climate change that has been dramatically impacted by human
activities. According to Planetary Health research, human activities that include reproduction is
pushing the planet to the limit of exploitation of its resources (Gould & Rudolph, 2015). The
processes of the human activities have led to changes in the planet's biosphere leading to climatic
changes, pollution of air, soil and water as well as the loss of biodiversity.
Population Affected
Climatic changes evenly affect the human race as everyone subjected to harsh climatic
conditions is likely to suffer the consequences. Climatic change has led to extreme heat during
summer. States like Georgis, Arizona, North Carolina, New Mexico, and South Carolina
recorded higher than normal average annual temperature. Extreme weather places stress to food-
production systems.
Climate change has been associated with causing 150,000 deaths annually (Manogaran
& Lopez, 2018). Severe heat has been associated with about 7,415 deaths between 1999 and
2010. The poor, elderly and children are more susceptible to complications caused by climate
change. According to Manogaran & Lopez (2018), climate changes such as extreme heat lead to
dehydration, aggravated cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses. Racial fragmentation of the
populations affected by climate change showed that Hispanics contributed 21% of the vulnerable

CLIMATE CHANGE AND HEALTH POLICY 3
population while the African Americans and Asian Americans contributed 52% and 32%
respectively.
Problem Statement
Climate change has been associated with the continuous growth and exacerbation of
health issues. Researchers have associated the rise of infectious diseases to the changes in
climate. Climate change significantly increases the prevalence of vector-borne diseases where
extreme weather plays a role in the magnitude, distribution and viral capacity of disease agents
(Kim, 2016). The effects of climate change concerning human health pose a challenge that needs
to be addressed through effecting relevant policies that assist in the control and rehabilitation of
climate. Despite the control and rehabilitation policies, essential policies should be enacted to
protect the already affected patients as well as those susceptible to the dangers of climatic
change.
Existing Policies
Various states and Congress have enacted policies that are meant to manage the
causatives of climate change. The Federal Law outlines the limitations of carbon emission that is
required to manage the rate at which Green House gasses get emitted into the atmosphere. The
state of San Francisco serves as a critical example of the policies and steps that have been taken
to contain climate change and its effects on human health. The state's department of human
health funds researches on the complications caused by climate change and the assessment of the
impact (Flood, Minkler, Hennessey Lavery, Estrada & Falbe, 2015). These studies are important