No time for games: children’s health and climate change
Australian children are the ones who will be most likely to suffer from increased cases of disease and infection as a result of climate change, former Australian of the Year and leading paediatrician Professor Fiona Stanley has warned. A new report by Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA), a national organisation of medical doctors which raises awareness about the link between health and the environment, finds changing weather conditions are expected to make some illnesses like gastroenteritis and asthma more common or more severe and more likely to threaten the lives of Australian children. It also says that children in particular will suffer psychological or physical trauma from increasing bushfires and floods, and they are more at risk from diseases that have been previously uncommon in Australia, such as dengue fever. The report, No Time for Games: Children’s Health and Climate Change also highlights the need for GPs and hospitals to start preparing health systems to cope with the increasing impacts of climate change.