氣候變化對兒童健康構(gòu)成的威脅特別大

氣候變化對兒童健康構(gòu)成的威脅特別大

When it comes to global health, the world has made remarkable strides over the last two decades. There's been unprecedented progress vaccinating kids, treating diseases and lifting millions out of poverty. The childhood death rate has been slashed in half since 2000. Adults are living an average five-and-a-half years longer.

在全球衛(wèi)生方面，世界在過去二十年中取得了顯著進(jìn)展。為兒童接種疫苗、治療疾病和幫助數(shù)百萬人脫貧取得了前所未有的進(jìn)展。自2000年以來，兒童死亡率下降了一半。成年人的平均壽命增加了5年半。

Now scientists say these successes are under serious threat from climate change. The warning comes in a sweeping new study in the journal The Lancet. It's the latest in an annual — and evolving — effort by researchers from more than a dozen universities as well as the World Health Organization to track the health impacts of climate change.

現(xiàn)在，科學(xué)家們表示，這些成功正受到氣候變化的嚴(yán)重威脅。這一警告來自《柳葉刀》雜志上一項全新的研究。這是來自十多所大學(xué)和世界衛(wèi)生組織的研究人員追蹤氣候變化對健康影響的年度努力的最新進(jìn)展。

They note that even as the world has been doing so much to improve health, climate change has also been underway — slowly pushing up the average temperatures experienced around the planet by about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit compared to preindustrial times.

他們指出，盡管世界一直在努力改善人們的健康，但氣候變化也一直在發(fā)生——與前工業(yè)化時代相比，全球平均氣溫緩慢上升了約1.8華氏度。

And that temperature boost has had a wide and complicated range of consequences for world health, says Dr. Nick Watts of University College London, who led the study.

主持這項研究的倫敦大學(xué)學(xué)院的尼克·沃茨博士說，氣溫升高對世界健康產(chǎn)生了廣泛而復(fù)雜的影響。

For instance, it's meant the conditions for growing all sorts of crops around the world have become less favorable.

例如，它意味著世界各地種植各種作物的條件變得不那么有利。

"Each of the major crops," Watts says. "We track maize, we track rice, soybean, and spring and winter wheat."

沃茨說，“我們追蹤了玉米、大米、大豆、春小麥和冬小麥等每一種主要作物。”

Watts says the research team found that the yield potential for these staple crops is now down as much as 6%.

沃茨說，研究小組發(fā)現(xiàn)，這些主要農(nóng)作物的潛在產(chǎn)量現(xiàn)在下降了6%。

Which might not sound like much, but with reduced crop yields, "who is going to be the most vulnerable?" Watts asks. "Children."

這聽起來可能不算什么，但隨著農(nóng)作物產(chǎn)量的下降，“誰將是最易受傷害的?” 沃茨問道。“孩子們。”

Particularly kids in poorer countries. When fewer crops are produced, prices go up, and people get less food. That leads to malnutrition, which can be especially devastating for kids because their bodies are still growing.

尤其是貧窮國家的孩子。當(dāng)作物產(chǎn)量減少時，價格就會上漲，人們得到的食物就會減少。這就導(dǎo)致了營養(yǎng)不良，這對孩子們來說是毀滅性的，因為他們的身體還在生長。

"They end up with these health impacts that stick with them through the rest of their life — gastrointestinal disease, cardiovascular disease, cognitive defects," Watts says. "And that has a really profound lifelong impact that is irreversible."

沃茨說:“這些疾病會伴隨他們一生——腸胃疾病、心血管疾病、認(rèn)知缺陷。”“這對人的一生影響深遠(yuǎn)，不可逆轉(zhuǎn)。”

Another health-related effect of climate change: It's improving conditions for the spread of a bacteria called Vibrio.

氣候變化對健康的另一個影響是:它改善了弧菌的傳播條件。

"It's a nasty bug. It causes all sorts of problems," Watts notes. Including cholera, wound infections and diarrhea, which in poorer countries is an especially big killer for kids.

“這是個討厭的蟲子。它會引起各種各樣的問題。包括霍亂、傷口感染和腹瀉，這些疾病在貧窮國家是兒童的主要殺手。

Here's how climate change plays a role: As the surface temperature of the ocean rises, the salinity patterns in the water shift.

氣候變化是這樣起作用的:隨著海洋表面溫度的升高，海水的鹽分模式也發(fā)生了變化。

Even though these impacts disproportionately hit poor countries, the report's authors stress that every nation is affected.

報告的作者強(qiáng)調(diào)，盡管這些影響不成比例地影響了貧窮的國家，但每個國家都受到了影響。