News Analysis India

Tag: Heat related deaths

  • India recorded 33 heat-related deaths in 2022, none in 2023 yet

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: Over 30 deaths were reported in India due to heat-related illness in 2022, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.No heat-related deaths have been reported in 2023, Minister of State for Health Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar said.

    Of the 33 heat-related deaths reported in 2022, 27 were from Maharashtra. Three were from Odisha, two were from Telangana and one was from Andhra Pradesh.

    Pawar said the ministry had released a National Action plan on heat-related illness in 2021. This document provides guidance to manage severe heat-related illnesses in terms of clinical management, health facility preparedness and surveillance of heat-related illnesses. 

    Based on the guiding principle of the National Action Plan, 18 states have prepared action plans for heat-related illnesses. 

    ALSO READ | Nine Indian states among top 50 regions facing climate change risk

    The Union Health Ministry has started collecting data on morbidity and mortality due to heat-related illness through Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) from heat-vulnerable states/union territories since 2015, the minister said in an answer to another written question. 

    As per the data shared by the minister, many states have not reported heat-related deaths.

    While in 2018, 25 deaths were recorded; in 2019, 215 deaths were reported, with Bihar reporting as many as 121 deaths, followed by Telangana (42) and Andhra Pradesh (29).

    In 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, not many states reported heat-related deaths. The only states that shared the information were Kashmir, where two people died due to heat-related illness, followed by Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu region where one death each was recorded.

    In 2021, when Covid-19 was at its peak in India, none of the states shared the information.  

    NEW DELHI: Over 30 deaths were reported in India due to heat-related illness in 2022, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.No heat-related deaths have been reported in 2023, Minister of State for Health Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar said.

    Of the 33 heat-related deaths reported in 2022, 27 were from Maharashtra. Three were from Odisha, two were from Telangana and one was from Andhra Pradesh.

    Pawar said the ministry had released a National Action plan on heat-related illness in 2021. This document provides guidance to manage severe heat-related illnesses in terms of clinical management, health facility preparedness and surveillance of heat-related illnesses. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Based on the guiding principle of the National Action Plan, 18 states have prepared action plans for heat-related illnesses. 

    ALSO READ | Nine Indian states among top 50 regions facing climate change risk

    The Union Health Ministry has started collecting data on morbidity and mortality due to heat-related illness through Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) from heat-vulnerable states/union territories since 2015, the minister said in an answer to another written question. 

    As per the data shared by the minister, many states have not reported heat-related deaths.

    While in 2018, 25 deaths were recorded; in 2019, 215 deaths were reported, with Bihar reporting as many as 121 deaths, followed by Telangana (42) and Andhra Pradesh (29).

    In 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, not many states reported heat-related deaths. The only states that shared the information were Kashmir, where two people died due to heat-related illness, followed by Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu region where one death each was recorded.

    In 2021, when Covid-19 was at its peak in India, none of the states shared the information. 
     

  • Heat-related deaths rise by 55 per cent in India from 2000-04 to 2017-21: Lancet report

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: India saw a 55 per cent rise in deaths due to extreme heat between 2000-2004 and 2017-2019, according to the Lancet’s latest report.

    In 2020, over 3,30,000 people died in India due to exposure to particulate matter from fossil fuel combustion.

    According to the 2022 report titled ‘Countdown on health and climate change’ heat-related deaths increased by 68 per cent between 2000–04 and 2017–21, a death toll significantly exacerbated by the confluence of the Covid-19 pandemic.

    It also said that due to the rapidly increasing temperatures, vulnerable populations – adults older than 65 years and children younger than one year – were exposed to 3·7 billion more heat wave days in 2021 than annually in 1986 –2005. 

    “The changing climate is affecting the spread of infectious diseases, putting populations at higher risk of emerging diseases and co-epidemics,” the report, which was released Wednesday morning, said, adding that exposure to extreme heat affects health directly, exacerbating underlying conditions such as cardiovascular and respiratory disease, and causing heat stroke, adverse pregnancy outcomes, worsened sleep patterns, poor mental health, and increased injury-related death.

    ALSO READ | India suffered income loss of 5.4 per cent of GDP due to heatwave: Climate Transparency Report

    During March-April, 2022, India experienced a heat wave that was 30 times more likely to have happened because of climate change. Apart from impacting lives, the heat wave severely affected people’s livelihoods. 

    For the study, 42 indicators across five domains – climate change, adaptation, planning and resilience for health, mitigation actions and health co-benefits, economics and finance, and public and political engagement were analysed.

    Exposure to heat also caused a loss of 167.2 billion potential labour hours among Indians in 2021, the study noted. This resulted in income losses equivalent to about 5.4 per cent of the national gross domestic product, it added.

    The study stated that climate change had amplified the health impacts of multiple crises in India. It said that between 1951-1960 and 2012-2021, the number of months suitable for dengue transmission by the Aedes aegypti mosquito increased by 1.69 per cent and reached 5.6 months yearly.

    The study also found that biomass accounted for 61 percent of household energy consumption in 2019 in India, while fossil fuels accounted for 20 per cent.

    It highlighted the fact that governments and companies continue to follow strategies that increasingly threaten the health and survival of all people alive today and of future generations.

    The report recommended that improvement in air quality will help to prevent deaths resulting from exposure to fossil fuel-derived particulate matter.

    NEW DELHI: India saw a 55 per cent rise in deaths due to extreme heat between 2000-2004 and 2017-2019, according to the Lancet’s latest report.

    In 2020, over 3,30,000 people died in India due to exposure to particulate matter from fossil fuel combustion.

    According to the 2022 report titled ‘Countdown on health and climate change’ heat-related deaths increased by 68 per cent between 2000–04 and 2017–21, a death toll significantly exacerbated by the confluence of the Covid-19 pandemic.

    It also said that due to the rapidly increasing temperatures, vulnerable populations – adults older than 65 years and children younger than one year – were exposed to 3·7 billion more heat wave days in 2021 than annually in 1986 –2005. 

    “The changing climate is affecting the spread of infectious diseases, putting populations at higher risk of emerging diseases and co-epidemics,” the report, which was released Wednesday morning, said, adding that exposure to extreme heat affects health directly, exacerbating underlying conditions such as cardiovascular and respiratory disease, and causing heat stroke, adverse pregnancy outcomes, worsened sleep patterns, poor mental health, and increased injury-related death.

    ALSO READ | India suffered income loss of 5.4 per cent of GDP due to heatwave: Climate Transparency Report

    During March-April, 2022, India experienced a heat wave that was 30 times more likely to have happened because of climate change. Apart from impacting lives, the heat wave severely affected people’s livelihoods. 

    For the study, 42 indicators across five domains – climate change, adaptation, planning and resilience for health, mitigation actions and health co-benefits, economics and finance, and public and political engagement were analysed.

    Exposure to heat also caused a loss of 167.2 billion potential labour hours among Indians in 2021, the study noted. This resulted in income losses equivalent to about 5.4 per cent of the national gross domestic product, it added.

    The study stated that climate change had amplified the health impacts of multiple crises in India. It said that between 1951-1960 and 2012-2021, the number of months suitable for dengue transmission by the Aedes aegypti mosquito increased by 1.69 per cent and reached 5.6 months yearly.

    The study also found that biomass accounted for 61 percent of household energy consumption in 2019 in India, while fossil fuels accounted for 20 per cent.

    It highlighted the fact that governments and companies continue to follow strategies that increasingly threaten the health and survival of all people alive today and of future generations.

    The report recommended that improvement in air quality will help to prevent deaths resulting from exposure to fossil fuel-derived particulate matter.