Major Impacts of Global Warming In Human Health Essay

Global warming is a rise in average temperatures on the earth surface due to human activities such as burning of coal and oil refining, eventually the activities cause emission of greenhouse gases in the air that increase solar radiation thus resulting in climate changes. When these gases are released in the atmosphere they destroy the ozone layer and this lead to continuous increase in temperatures around the globe.

Climate change has caused many environmental problems which consequently bring a negative effect on human health. Due to continued increase in average temperatures caused by rise in high degree of infrared solar radiations on the surface of the earth, the ecological system has been destructed.

This destruction causes a major stigma to human health. For the last couple of years some areas have experienced hurricanes rain, costal regions have been eroded and presence of heat waves that are very hot has been felt (Stern 2006).

Human skin is so delicate and due to continued increase in average solar radiation, skin cancer has been reported in various countries. This has claimed many lives of innocent people who have fallen victims of this catastrophe. The world health organization has that show the loss of about 150000 lives yearly as a result of global warming and rain.

The scientist predicts that climate changes are due to cause long-term climatic conditions that will lead to rise in water temperatures in the ecosystem. They further caution the world to take this matter seriously as it threatens the life of human beings and also other animals (Patz, Lendrum, Holloway & Foley 2005).

The research further reveals that the health effects will not be uniform in every continent but the impact will depend on factors such as; social economic status and accessibility to health facilities by the people within the area.

Other diseases such as asthma, allergies and heart ailments have been linked to climate change. When temperature increases, it leads to destruction of ozone layer which protect us from direct exposure to suns UV rays. When ozone combines with dust and chemical gas emitted by industries, it brings a pollutant compound called fog.

This contributes to destruction of lung tissues and consequently causes lung diseases such as asthma (McMichael, Woodruff & Hales 2006). This is evident in the current world where cases of people suffering from asthma have gone up. It also causes respiratory problems; individuals suffering from respiratory problems are likely to strain on cooling their bodies through cardiovascular system.

Climate changes also expose other insects, such as, mosquitoes and sand flies that cause diseases such as malaria. Researchers have observed that there has been an increase of malaria cases mostly in highlands regions which initially were not prone to such diseases, this is due to climate changes in highlands that are believed to be too cold but nowadays it is not been the case.

High temperature has also made several impacts to the eco system. Forests that contribute to the holding of water table are shrinking due to fire that occur every time in the forest, temperatures in the ocean have increased and thus storms tremendously increases and in return causing hurricanes, floods, and tsunami. All these bring about a rise in death of human beings (McMichael, Woodruff & Hales 2006).

The climatic changes affect agriculture which is the major source of food leaving a large number of people starving and sick.

In Europe alone the number of people who were announced dead during the summer season in 2003 was more than 22000; temperature increased up to 35 degrees and saw many people die of heat related diseases in two weeks time. This shows that extreme heat can cause more deaths compared to .

We have seen that global warming increases the temperatures in the ocean which results in and consequently cause floods along costal regions, floods have a negative effects on human health by the fact that water borne diseases such as cholera can arise; when this water drain to the rivers where probably most people draw water for domestic use, the dirt that come along with this water may contain germs which causes cholera or even typhoid.

It is palpable that high percentage of cholera and other water borne diseases are recorded along the shore where flooding have been experienced for along time.

Obviously, the people who suffer most are the poor who cannot afford to fund for their treatment and eventually they loose life. Fish in the ocean also die due to high temperatures in the ocean thus human lack proteins that are necessary for their diet as stated by Wilson (2007).

Another major effect of high temperatures that have been reported in Europe is a rise in food-borne infections. Cases of salmonellosis have increased in most parts of Europe. In UK, for example, incidences of food poisoning have been experienced for several years due to prolonged high temperatures in these regions (Stern 2006).

Vector-borne diseases have also been the theme of the day in many countries, these diseases such as that is commonly found in Australia and also plague in south west of America has been reported as a result of continuous increase in temperatures (Wilson 2007).

All these are major threat that may cause extinction of human beings or animals in the ecosystem if correct measures to curb global warming are not put to practice.

El Nio that was experienced during 1997-98 period brought about so many diseases such as malaria and cholera. Many people lost their lives and others were left homeless. All these are caused by human activities that have contributed to global warming.

The increase in cholera cases has been associated with continued variations in climatic conditions, for example, the flooding that locked Bangladesh contributed to a major hit back of cholera (Patz, Lendrum & Foley 2005).

The world health organization (WHO) predicts that by the year 2030 deaths associated with global warming are likely to increase if people continue to induce activities that trigger this change. The organization observes that cases of malnutrition and flooding are major issues that might hit the globe in future.

People should practice total refrain on matters that contribute to global warming to prevent more problems around the globe; for example, industries should find ways to sterilize gases that are emitted in the atmosphere and harm the ozone. Countries should address this issue seriously and if possible, the mortality rate will decrease by 2030.