Gender reference
Chapter 11 Human Health: Impacts, Adaptation, and Co-Benefits
11.1. Introduction
11.1.2. Developments Since AR4
Box 11-1 | Weather, Climate, and Health: A Long-Term Observational Study in African and Asian Populations:In another study from the Network, Diboulo et al. (2012) examined the relation between weather and all-cause mortality data in Burkina Faso. Relations between daily temperature and mortality were similar to those reported in many high-income settings, and susceptibility to heat varied by age and gender. |
11.3. Vulnerability to Disease and Injury Due to Climate Variability and Climate Change
11.3.3. Age and Gender
Children, young people, and the elderly are at increased risk of clclimate-related njury and illness (Perera, 2008). For example, adverse effects of malaria, diarrhea, and undernutrition are presently concentrated among children, for reasons of physiological susceptibility (Michon et al., 2007). In principle, children are thought to be more vulnerable to heat-related illnesses, owing to their small body mass to surface area ratio, but evidence of excess heat-related mortality in this age group is mixed (Basu and Ostro, 2008; Kovats and Hajat, 2008). Maternal antibodies acquired in utero provide some protection against dengue fever in the first year of life, but if infection does occur in infants it is more likely to provoke the severe hemorrhagic form of illness (Ranjit and Kissoon, 2011). Children are generally at greater risk when food supplies are restricted: households with children tend to have lower than average incomes, and food insecurity is associated with a range of adverse health outcomes among young children (Cook and Frank, 2008).
Older people are at greater risk from storms, floods, heat waves, and other extreme events (Brunkard et al., 2008), in part because they tend to be less mobile than younger adults and so find it more difficult to avoid hazardous situations and also because they are more likely to live alone in some cultures. Older people are also more likely to suffer from health conditions that limit the body’s ability to respond to stressors such as heat and air pollution (Gamble et al., 2013).
The relationship between gender and vulnerability iscomplex. Worldwide, mortality due to natural disasters, including droughts, floods, and storms, is higher among women than men (WHO, 2011). However, there is variation regionally. In the USA, males are at greater risk of death following flooding (Jonkman and Kelman, 2005). A study of the health effects of flooding in Hunan province, China, also found an excess of flood deaths among males, often related to rural farming (Abuaku et al., 2009). In Canada’s Inuit population males are exposed to dangers associated with insecure sea ice,while females may be more vulnerable to the effects of diminished food supplies (Pearce et al., 2011). In the Paris 2003 heat wave, excess mortality was greater among females overall, but there were more excess deaths among men in the working age span (25 to 64) possibly due to differential exposures to heat in occupational settings (Fouillet et al., 2006). In Bangladesh, females are more affected than males by a range of climate hazards, due to differences in prevalence of poverty, undernutrition, and exposure to water-logged environments (Neelormi et al., 2009). The effect of food insecurity on growth and development in childhood may be more damaging for girls than boys (Cook and Frank, 2008).
Pregnancy is a period of increased vulnerability to a wide range of environmental hazards, including extreme heat (Strand et al., 2012) and infectious diseases such as malaria, foodborne infections, and influenza (Van Kerkhove et al., 2011).
