More Indians are losing lives due to heatwaves, casualties up by 55%: Lancet study
heatwave
A study published in medical journal The Lancet has said that there was 55 per cent rise in deaths due to heatwave in India between 2000-04 and 2017-21. The study said that this in turn caused loss of income equal to 5.4 per cent of the GDP. In summer, many parts of India regularly face heatwaves but experts are now saying that these heatwaves are now becoming longer and more intense.
The annual Lancet Countdown report was published on Tuesday (October 26).
The report says that exposure to heat caused loss of 167.2 billion potential labour hours among Indians in 2021.
The report looked at 103 countries. It has been found that heatwave that hit India and Pakistan in March and April was considerably more likely due to effects of climate change.
"Exposure to extreme heat affects health directly, exacerbating underlying conditions such as cardiovascular and respiratory disease, and causing heat stroke, adverse pregnancy outcomes, worsened sleep patterns, poor mental health, and increased injury-related death," said the study.
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The report also noted that over-dependence on fossil fuels was worsening impact of issues such as climate change, pandemics and food security. It further said that global land area affected by extreme drought had increased by nearly a third in the last 50 years, putting hundreds of millions of people at risk of water insecurity.
"Climate change is already having a negative impact on food security, with worrying implications for malnutrition and under-nourishment," said Elizabeth Robinson, director of the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics and a lead contributor to the Countdown.
"Further increases in temperature, frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, and carbon dioxide concentrations, will put yet more pressure on availability of and access to nutritious food, especially for the most vulnerable."
(With inputs from agencies)
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