Respiratory health and ecosyndemics in a time of global warming

Abstract

Respiratory risks to human health are on the rise around the globe, at least in part, because anthropogenic environmental changes are increasing and multiplying the likelihood of respiratory disease comorbidity and disease interaction, a health consequence termed an ecosyndemic. The immediate objective of this paper is to examine the nature and growing prevalence of ecosyndemics under conditions of mounting environmental imbalance and climate change as exemplifi ed by asthma and other increasingly frequent respiratory diseases. More broadly, the paper seeks to contribute to increased understanding of the critical role of syndemics in shaping global health and the value of a political ecology of respiratory health perspective.

Vehicular air pollution and asthma: implications for education for health and environmental sustainability

“…Given the imbalance of power between patient groups and polluting industries, the government failure to protect the weaker party can be explained by corporate pressures (Baer 2009). Air pollution is tied to the massive corporate support for the car industry (Baer 2009, Singer 2013, whereas industrial lobbies have vested interests in promoting a "car culture" (Flink 1975, Tertoolen et al 1998, Abrahamse et al 2009. It could be speculated that strategic policy that claims to be concerned with public health then should explicitly link the present pattern of mobility to public health, assuming that greater emphasis on risk and health will lead to both greater public awareness and more pressure on corporate lobbies supporting private vehicles to revise their promotion of private vehicles.…”

“…The very process of car production causes immediate pollution and far-reaching effects such as climate change (UCSUSA 2015). Threats to respiratory health being ushered in by climate change include harmful disease interactions (so-called comorbidity) sparked by changing environmental conditions (Singer 2013). Another consequence of having over a billion cars in the world is that an increasing area of the land is covered by tarmac, allowing less green "filtering" (Sperling and Gordon 2009, Kopnina and Keune 2010, Kopnina 2011.…”

Exploring linkages between climate change and sexual health: a scoping review protocol

“…The ecosyndemics framework examines the ways in which largely human-caused environmental changes interact with economic and social inequities to harm health. [43][44][45] Mapping ecosyndemic risk hotspots and community engagement can provide insight into how social and ecological system changes interact to shape STI and other health concerns.…”

Mapping Multi-Disease Risk during El Niño: An Ecosyndemic Approach

“…Ecosyndemics are important to consider because of their potential interactive and cascading effects on public health. For example, Singer [27] suggests the rise in asthma is a consequence of an increasing hazardous environment, where respiratory health risks interact (e.g., asthma, allergic rhinitis and viruses), induced by air pollution, exacerbated by global warming, and facilitated by “social relationships.” While a conceptual description of what an ecosyndemic has been discussed, the spatial patterns of such public health phenomena have not been explored. Thus, this present work seeks to address this gap by exploring an ecosyndemic approach to mapping multi-infectious disease risk using Piura, a northwest region in Peru, as a case study during the well documented El Niño in 1998.…”