Impact of Climate Crisis on Child Health

Hunger and malnutrition are directly linked to the shift in a climate, which in turn creates a disorder in the production cycle. The rise in temperature, water scarcity, and air pollution have combined to create an inhospitable scenario where child health will face a full-forced impact of both water-borne diseases and dangerous respiratory conditions. Unless addressed and tackled properly, the future that one has envisioned for his/her progeny is about to be at stake.

To throw light on this, IIHMR University Jaipur, in association with Future Health System (FHS), has made a film on climate change and its effect on children. Titled Children of an Uncertain Climate, the content of the film is based on decoding child health impact under climate crisis, an eminently illustrious study by FHS.

This short film delves into the ways Climate Change is impacting child health in India, keeping in context Sundarbans – a climatically exposed and vulnerable region. The FHS study states that the Sundarbans, the mangrove forest delta shared both by India and Bangladesh is among the worst hit regions of climate change in the world.

The film Children of an Uncertain Climate was shown at the World Conference on Health and Climate Change – first ever ‘humanitarian COP’ – held in Cannes, France.

The film and the study aim to create a powerful conversation which results in the following proactive measures:

– Identify climate change as a risk factor for food security, especially in the island pockets where resources are limited

– Adopt long-term community-led adaptation strategies in the food production system instead of short-term emergency response

– Build climate-sensitive infrastructure in climatically vulnerable pockets for uninterrupted care services

– Undertake state-led innovative measures for supplying vegetables and fruits through the Public Distribution System to improve the food availability of the region

– Undertake strong surveillance to monitor the growth of the children, especially in the worst-hit regions for prompt action on food insecurity at the household level

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