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MARI/CCPO Seminar Series
GLOBAL HEALTH AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Muge Akpinar-Elci, Center for Global Health, College of Health Sciences, Old Dominion University
The effects of climate change, including warmer temperatures, rising sea levels, rainfall changes, and more severe extreme weather events such as hurricanes and tropical storms, create a significant risk to public health, food security, natural resources, and the general economies, as well as an increased risk from heat stress, asthma, vector, food, and water-borne diseases. There should be an emphasis on early warning response to severe climate-related events with the awareness that these effects are likely to have the most impact on susceptible populations, such as the elderly, infants and children, those with existing chronic diseases, and those living in low and middle income countries. Adaptation interventions and primary mitigation are both crucial strategies in public health to meet the challenges of a changing climate.