Public Health Implications of Drought in a Climate Change Context: A Critical Review

Abstract

Extreme weather events are expected to increase due to climate change, which could pose an additional burden of morbidity and mortality. In recent decades, drought severity has increased in several regions around the world, affecting health by increasing the risk of water-, food-, and vector-borne diseases, malnutrition, cardiovascular and respiratory illness, mental health disorders, and mortality. Drought frequency and severity are expected to worsen across large regions as a result of a decrease in precipitation and an increase in temperature and atmospheric evaporative demand, posing a pressing challenge for public health. Variation in impacts among countries and communities is due to multiple factors, such as aging, socioeconomic status, access to health care, and gender, affecting population resilience. Integrative proactive action plans focused on risk management are required, and resources should be transferred to developing countries to reduce their vulnerability and risk. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Public Health, Volume 44 is April 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Analyzing the effects of drought at different time scales on cause-specific mortality in South Africa

“…Drought is one of the most complex and destructive hazards faced by many regions worldwide, causing detrimental effects on the environment, economy, and society [1][2][3][4]. Drought generally originates from deficiencies in precipitation, known as meteorological drought, which can result in water scarcity across different parts of the hydrological cycle leading to other different types of droughts depending on the system or sector affected (e.g.…”

“…agricultural, hydrological, socioeconomic drought) [5][6][7][8][9]. Drought can also cause adverse health effects through different pathways such as the reduction of water quantity and quality, intensification of heatwaves, increase of air pollution, reduction of food supplies, and socioeconomic disruptions, leading to an increased risk of water-, food-and vector-borne diseases, cardiovascular and respiratory conditions, mental health disorders, nutritional issues, and mortality [2,4,[10][11][12][13][14]. From 1970 to 2019, drought accounted for 6% of total number of natural disasters worldwide and led to 34% of related fatalities.…”

“…[19][20][21]23]. Factors such as geography, climate, settlement patterns (rural vs. urban), demographic and socioeconomic conditions, culture, and governance can contribute to vulnerability [4,12]. Children, the elderly, individuals living in rural areas heavily dependent on agriculture for livelihoods, and those with pre-existing conditions may face higher health risks related to extreme weather events such as droughts due to an increased susceptibility to the impacts, increased exposure and/or lack of adaptative capacity [3,25,26].…”

“…Additionally, uncertainty exists on vulnerability according to the type of settlement [17]. The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction indicates that rural communities and farmers tend to be more vulnerable to drought effects, particularly associated with mental health [2], while other studies postulate that people living in urban areas may have higher extreme weather events-related respiratory risks because of the urban heat island effects and higher concentration of pollution from road traffic and industries in urban environments [3,4]. However, a recent study on drought-related respiratory mortality in the United States indicated that non-metro counties were associated with a higher mortality risk ratio and were more susceptible to drought exposure than metro counties [23].…”

“…Climate change, rapid population growth and the anticipated increase of the elderly population in SA [e.g. 16,33] may significantly increase the exposure and vulnerability to drought in the coming decades [3,4]. Thus, offering valuable evidence on the effects of drought on human health is crucial to guide targeted interventions to reduce the health burden associated with drought and improve the population's resilience to the impacts of climate change in a highly vulnerable region.…”