Climate change and social determinants of health: two interlinked agendas

Luiz Augusto C. Galvão, Sally Edwards, Carlos Corvalan, Kira Fortune and Marco Akerman
Pan American Health Organization PAHO/WHO – Area of Sustainable Development and Environment
Global Health Promotion 1757-9759; Supp (1): 81–84; 103761 SAGE Publications 2009, DOI: 10.1177/1757975909103761

Available online PDF [5p.] at: http://ped.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/16/1_suppl/81

“……The issue of equity should be considered by policy-makers as a significant social mechanism, which can change environment and climate change at country and community level as it reinforces the close link that exists between public and sustainable development. Sustainable development consists of three core pillars, namely an environmental pillar, an economic pillar and a social pillar. The core question posed here addresses those three pillars with a specific focus on integrating physical and social environments as well as how these can influence the health status of populations….”

“….In the Region of the Americas, the main areas of concern are:
• increases in the frequency and intensity of extreme climate events;
• changes in food and water supply, which in turn affect nutritional security;
• modifications in the distribution of the vectorborne diseases and sea level rise….”