ST. LUCIA is listed as one of several countries most vulnerable to climate change. Severe weather puts the island’s health infrastructure at risk.
Officials at the Ministry of Health, Wellness, Human Services and Gender Relations through the Department of Environmental Health, and the Bureau of Health Education, attended a climate change presentation Tuesday.
The presentation sought to highlight the potential impact of climate change on health.
“The impact of climate change on health is quite significant particularly with more intense and extreme natural events such as hurricanes,” said Crispin d’Auvergne, Chief Sustainable Development Officer in the Ministry of Sustainable Development. “It puts islands’ health infrastructure in at risk, and with increased temperatures there could be a proliferation of vectors such as the Aedesaegypti which causes dengue and chikungunya. It is also possible that the incubation period for these vectors would be much shorter.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) has acknowledged that climate change affects the social and environmental determinants of health including clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food and secure shelter.