Appendices
Appendix 1: Health impacts of extreme weather events.
| Heatwaves | Increased cardiovascular risk factors: poorer glycaemic control, increased blood pressure, increased cholesterol and reduced exercise. Increased cardiovascular mortality, heart attacks. |
|---|---|
| Air quality |
Main respiratory diseases of concern are asthma, rhinosinusitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), respiratory tract infections. Main cardiovascular disease of concern is increased risk of type two diabetes (T2DM), hypertension, cardiovascular mortality, heart attacks, stroke, heart failure, arrhythmias. 0-19 year olds susceptible to asthma due to particulate air pollution. Premature deaths in >65’s due to particulate air pollution. |
| Flooding | Deaths from drowning and physical injury through contact with flood waters. Car accidents. Hypothermia. Injuries from cleaning after a flood (including CO poisoning). Mental health impacts (PTSD, depression, anxiety). Infectious disease outbreaks. Industrial/agricultural chemical exposure. Altered indoor environments (including mould exposure). |
| Coastal erosion | Acute flooding health effects. Displacement of communities has long term health impacts. Mental health impacts are greater for those displaced by flooding. Displacement acts as a stressor that triggers malnutrition, hypertension, and cardiac events. |
| Wildfires |
Wildfires that burn near populated areas can have significant impact on the environment, property, livestock and human mortality and morbidity depending on the size, speed and proximity to the fire, and whether the population has advanced warning to evacuate. Direct impact, including long-term injuries and death, resulting from burns and inhalation of smoke during the fires. Indirect impact via air pollution and mental stress resulting. PM2.5 from wildfire smoke is associated with premature deaths in the general population, and can cause and exacerbate diseases of the lungs, heart, brain/nervous system, skin, gut, kidney, eyes, nose and liver. It has also been shown to lead to cognitive impairment and memory loss. Firefighters and emergency response workers are also greatly impacted by injuries, burns and smoke inhalation, particularly at high concentrations. |
Appendix 2: Climate change needs, UKHSA
| Hazard | Need and mitigation |
|---|---|
| Temperature (heat and cold) | Individual behavioural changes. National heat and cold alert systems. Built environment cold: insulation, triple glazing, draught reduction. Built environment hot: shading, external shutters on windows and ventilation, air conditioning. Alter reflectiveness of buildings and urban infrastructure. Increased greenspace- parks and gardens, trees in urban spaces for shade. Adaptive behaviours at key infrastructure (workplaces, hospitals, schools, care homes, and other health and care centres) - avoiding sun exposure, avoiding extreme physical exertion, ambient room temperatures, shade in sunny buildings, ventilating during cooler times at night, access to cool liquids. |
| Flooding | Planning policy to reduce assets in flood risk areas. High risk community relocation.Flood risk management- structural measures, natural flood management and sustainable drainage systems, property flood resilience. Flood insurance. Emergency preparedness, resilience and response. Health protection measures- support to address immediate physical and social needs including CO poisoning. Psychosocial support in the long term. Support from primary and specialist mental health services. |
| Air pollution | Low carbon and clean transportation. Clean energy sources. Low emission zones. Reduced air travel. Active travel. Less polluting, more frequent, affordable public transport. Pollution monitoring and alert systems. Improved building energy efficiency. Individual behaviour changes at home, Further research needed for the impact of lower indoor temperature environments on vulnerable groups. Increased greenspace |
| Airborne allergens | Consideration in urban planning and green infrastructure plans. Allergen-specific localise health forecasts. Further research on health impacts |
| Infectious diseases | The WHO have created Essential Public Health Operations that are pertinent to climate change and infectious diseases that public health bodies need to maintain. Public health should consider early infectious disease detection systems, outbreak reduction programmes, climate sensitive pathogen vaccination development, consideration of impacts around animal and human interaction. Local vector borne disease contingency plans. Habitat management plans. |
| Food systems | Adherence to UK dietary guidelines to promote sustainable and healthy diets. Reduced food waste. Increased domestic fruit and vegetable production. Lower GHG farming practices. Sustainable government food procurement standards. Diversifying buying power to resilient production systems.Altered land use. Farmland will need to be repurposed for alternative uses to increase carbons sequestration and forest cover, producing bioenergy and peatland restoration. |
| Droughts | Public messaging in affected areas to ensure safe water use and efficiency. Multi organisation coordinated drought resilience planning. |
| Chemical exposure | Plans to mitigate climate-change associated risk in sites such as contaminated land, landfills and hazardous material containment cells. Plans to mitigate POP exposure. Circular economy and life cycle approach to product and process design. Wastewater system resilience |
| Solar radiation | Sun exposure education for the public especially outdoor workers and earlier in the season. Sun safety guidelines. Consideration of messaging around sun exposure for ethnic minority populations. Outdoor space planning. |