2023-10-17 20:28:38
Researchers from the Postgraduate Nursing Program participated in a seminar on “Impact of Climate Change on Health”, at the Ceará School of Public Health (ESP/CE), linked to the State Health Department (Sesa).
The event, which took place in September 2023 in partnership with the University of International Integration of Afro-Brazilian Lusofonia (Unilab) and the Federal University of Ceará (UFC), was attended by health managers, climate experts, experts in public health, environmental scientists, teachers and students.
Climate change contributes to the occurrence of several health problems, with an increase in the prevalence of climate-sensitive diseases. Studies involving this topic in Brazil are scarce. Interventions in health and nursing are necessary in the face of climate change.
Vector diseases, such as dengue, and respiratory tract diseases, such as asthma, were highlighted at the seminar as pathologies that are influenced by climate variations. Dengue fever may present a reduction or increase in the number of incidences with increasing air temperature, depending on the region. With the increase in air temperature, significant changes in the number of hospitalizations for asthma are also expected.
According to professor and researcher Alexandre Cunha Costa, there are several climate-sensitive diseases, including respiratory diseases., waterborne, cardiovascular and vector. Dengue, malaria and American cutaneous leishmaniasis, for example, fall into this last group.
“Our studies, even if preliminary, already show that these diseases are sensitive to increased temperatures, seasons, droughts, heat waves and floods. This, of course, in the case of extreme events”, he explains.
According to the expert, the consequences of these climate changes can be felt on a global level. “Therefore, it is important to deepen studies in this regard, so that our State is prepared with interventions to reduce impacts on public health”, he reinforces.
His research is funded by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). The work began in February 2022 and continues until the beginning of 2025. The expectation is that the study will identify the greatest disease risks for Ceará, considering the effects of pollution, so that goals and objectives can be developed by managers and professionals of health, with the aim of reducing damage to the health of the population.
The seminar concluded with a presentation by professors Rafaella Pessoa Moreira and Tahissa Frota Cavalcante, who are also researchers at the Unilab Postgraduate Nursing Program.
With the mission of presenting the last panel of the event on health interventions aimed at climate change, the teachers listed actions that can be applied as a way to prevent Climate Sensitive Diseases. In dengue, recommendations range from educational procedures to reducing activities in open areas.
“Inspecting the integrity of the window protection screen, for example, is an action that can be guided by a surveillance professional. As the individual becomes aware of the risk factors, they can take some preventive measures within their home, such as wearing light-colored clothes, eliminating mosquito larvae sites and the like”, recommends Rafaella Pessoa.
The expectation is that a 20-hour course on the theme of the seminar will be developed by ESP/CE in partnership with Unilab. Training should be aimed at managers and health professionals.
Links to watch the lectures:
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