Climate change health alert for rural Australia

Mounting evidence of global warming has led experts to warn of likely adverse health effects to many Australians who live in rural and remote areas.

“Health effects from climate change will stem from increased temperatures, irregular distribution of precipitation, air pollution and infectious diseases,’’ warns a paper presented by Dr Peng Bi, from the Department of Public Health at the University of Adelaide in the January issue of the Australian Journal of Rural Health.

The paper predicts altered weather patterns will bring changes in the distribution of vector-borne diseases, such as Ross River and Barmah Forest viral infections, food-borne diseases and variations in daily mortality and hospitalisation rates, emergency department visits and the use of ambulances services.

It also predicts climate change will affect the eco-system to trigger extreme events such as heatwaves, droughts, flooding, cyclones and landslides. This will impact on food production by disrupting agricultural cycles.

“Australian society, especially rural regions, is becoming more vulnerable to natural disasters, at least in terms of economic costs, and these disasters are primarily climate- related. Rural and remote regions play an important role in the nation in terms of crops and pastoral production, biodiversity, environmental security and heritage protection,’’ the paper says.