Our planet will most likely warm by 1.5°C до 2°C and this will affect our health. Climate change will increase the rate of infectious diseases, risk of allergies, risk of skin cancer to UV exposure., as well as conditions like depression and Alzheimer’s disease.
However, a lot of people do not have the means to protect against these adverse conditions effectively. The most vulnerable groups include kids and the elderly, as well as people with pre-existing conditions and an immune deficiency.
According to recent research from the Robert Koch Institute in Germany, social factors also have a big impact on health risks related to climate change. Living conditions and working conditions can contribute excess risk to natural and medical phenomena crucial for health and life expectancy.
Low-income social groups are especially vulnerable and often lack the means to protect against climate change. Said groups are regularly exposed to additional risk because of disadvantaged urban areas. This class health imbalance could be a detriment to society as a whole – turning economic inequality into health inequality.
Vulnerable groups in a changing climate
On the one hand, extreme heat affects everyone under the sun, yet some people are more vulnerable. These are mainly children, pregnant women and the elderly – people whose bodily systems for regulating temperature are not working properly yet or have stopped working.
Bulgaria is among the countries in the EU with an ageing population with close to 21% of the population over 65. Additionally, according to Lazar Lazarov, the ex-interim Minister of Social Affairs, a third of them live beneath the poverty line set to 504 lv per month (252 euros). This makes them a double-risk group.
Another vulnerable group are people who cannot escape the scorching summer heat for professional reasons – cooks, fireman, agricultural workers, construction workers and others. Often these professions are performed by young and healthy people who have to work in the most dangerous hours of the day.
Also, oftentimes, these are underpaid jobs and people who practice them are also exposed to similar heat conditions at home. Low-income groups tend to live in small, overpopulated homes, which are poorly insulated, lack air conditioning or much in the way of protection from the sun.
The city – a conduit of heat
According to Andreas Matzarakis, one of the study’s authors, adverse living conditions can be a big detriment to human health. In an interview for the German Tagesschau, he explained that people with limited means tend to live in areas that do not cool down enough even at night.
Poorer urban areas rarely offer alternatives to concrete, alternatives like greenery, parks and water. At the same time, often they are densely populated and flanked by large boulevards, which all attract excess heat. Studies have shown that people from the lowest income groups live in the hottest parts of town.
According to data from the Robert Koch Institute, people in low-income groups can expect to have worse health compared to other groups. Data shows that for women this means a drop of 8 years in life expectancy on average. For men, that translates to a drop of 11 years.
