Your Health and a Changing Climate: Newsletter - Volume 2

Outreach Activities

Health Canada Lecture Series

On March 17, Dr. Dominique Charron and Dr. Paul Sockett from Health Canada's Centre for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control made a joint presentation to colleagues from Health Canada and other federal government departments, sponsored by C-CIARN Health and the Climate Change and Health Office, on úClimate Change, Infectious Disease and the Public Health Response Challengeî. Climate change is a new consideration in infectious disease response planning. Understanding how the climate will change, and how this change will affect disease ecology at various scales is a complex challenge. Canada, like all countries in temperate latitudes, may encounter climate-related changes in infectious disease ecology in the 21st century.

The audience heard that the public health challenge is to estimate potential risks, identify population vulnerabilities, and adapt to new threats by addressing gaps in our response capacity in a timely manner. As the Canadian public health community continues to develop responses to the emergence of West Nile virus. Avian influenza, and SARS, contingency planning for the impacts of climate change needs to advance. The scientific community needs to work with public health planners by identifying emerging or existing infectious disease threats vulnerable to the influence of climate variability or change, by deepening our understanding of these vulnerabilities through research on disease ecology, and by identifying priorities for surveillance (early warning) and adaptive response planning (policy).

>>> For more information, contact Dominique Charron at dominique_charron@hc-sc.gc.ca

C-CIARN Ontario Workshop

A workshop, organized by C-CIARN Ontario, entitled úManaging Risks from a Changing Climate: Making Adaptation Happen in Ontarioî was held in Guelph, Ontario March 24-25, 2004. Dr. Dominique Charron made a presentation at this workshop entitled úClimate change and public health: Getting past goî.

From a public health perspective, the keys to successfully adapting to climate change are to first understand existing sensitivities to climate conditions and the coping range of individuals and communities. Once known, we can then assess vulnerabilities to current and future climate conditions, and develop and implement practical, community-based solutions that reduce those vulnerabilities.

The public health sector needs to respond to climate change related risks by widening the spectrum of health determinants and injecting climate change into existing practices. By developing targeted surveillance programs, weather alert systems, effective communication systems and targeted disease control measures - all of which are existing public health functions - that integrate the new conditions anticipated under a warmer climate, we will better manage the health risks and impacts from climate change.

>>> For more information contact Al Douglas at adouglas@mirarco.org

Canadian Association of Geographers Annual Meeting

C-CIARN organized four sessions at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association of Geographers (CAG) held in Moncton, New Brunswick from May 25-29, 2004. Jacinthe S'guin, Manager, Climate Change and Health Office and of C-CIARN Health Sector, participated in a plenary panel discussion on how to integrate the natural, social, and medical sciences in climate change vulnerability assessments. In her remarks, she stressed the need, from a health perspective, for climate change research that embraces both the scenario and vulnerability approaches, that accommodates a range of scale, and that includes health considerations.

Dr. Chris Furgal of Laval University made a presentation at the C-CIARN Arctic and Coastal Session on his work on the impacts of climate change on public health in Arctic communities.

Climate change in Inuit regions poses health risks related to:

1. increased heat and cold stress,
   
   
2. increased exposure to UV-B radiation,
   
   
3. travelling or hunting and fishing activities due to changes in weather and storm events or stability and safety of ice and snow,
   
   
4. impacts on food security related to access and availability of important traditional food species,
   
   
5. the potential introduction of new vector-borne or water-borne diseases as well as
   
   
6. impacts on critical health infrastructure related to altered permafrost stability in communities.

Communities in the Canadian North have already started to adapt to changes occurring in their local area. Community workshops identified examples of current adaptation such as alteration of hunting and fishing patterns, significant investments in shoreline protection programs, changed water consumption habits. In many cases, further programs for adaptation are needed.

>>> For more information, contact Christopher.Furgal@crchul.ulaval.ca

The Natural City Symposium

The Climate Change and Health Office and the University of Toronto organized a session at the Natural City Symposium, held in Toronto June 23-25, 2004. The session focussed on the inter-relationships to be considered when studying the socio-economic impacts of climate change on community health and well-being. Chaired by Jacinthe Seguin, Manager of Climate Change and Health Office and C-CIARN Health, speakers included Lydia Dotto, author of úStorm Warning - Gambling with the Future of our Planetî, Dr. David McKeown, Medical Officer of Health for Peel Region, and Dr. Marcy Erskine and Dr. Sarah Wakefield of the University of Toronto. Ms. Dotto opened the session by describing the health and social impacts associated with climate change. Dr. McKeown spoke about how the health system has responded to major public health issues in the past, and what this might tell us about the capacity to deal with the health impacts of climate change. He suggested some opportunities for synergy between our responses to climate change and our current and future responses to public health threats. Dr. Erskine outlined a potential framework for conducting research on this complicated topic and Dr. Wakefield commented on the three presentations and how they impact the development of sustainable communities in Canada.

>>> For a copy of Dr. Erskine's paper, contact socioec.climate@utoronto.ca

>>> For a copy of Dr. McKeown's paper, contact David.McKeown@peelregion.ca