As you read this, tens of thousands in the foothills of Mt. Rwenzori have lost their loved ones in the last two years, and their community hospital has been totally destroyed by devastating floods. Other millions are displaced from their homes in the Balkans and a quarter of Bosnia went without clean water all at once, according to BBC World News on May 19, 2014. The cause of all of this is the damaging weather changes. This happens as some people in other parts of the world are still nursing injuries and recovering from trauma caused by tornados, hurricanes, and tsunamis.
I find it important that all activists for health equity dedicate part of their significant efforts to environmental protection campaigns. Global atmospheric carbon levels have increased over the past decade because of increasing human activity. Tropical rain forests are being destroyed, countries are reluctant to adopt green energies, and the politicians are more obsessed with job creation and economic recovery while they remain in office. This comes at a cost of environmental destruction by ruthless industrialists, and the entire concept of sustainable development has become useless.
At the heart of all this is human suffering, which is characterized by death from injury and the inadequate emergency healthcare during such situations. As we campaign for equal access to healthcare for all, we also need to focus our energies on situations that may reverse the achievement of our efforts. Within two days of unstoppable rains, millions in Bosnia were out of their homes and hospitals were destroyed. Giving these millions healthcare access will be another huge investment. We could have prevented this had there been a global consensus on how to tackle climate change. It is well known that carbon emissions from human activity cause global warming. With nations more focused on economic development, I get a feeling that the world is on its way to self-destruction.
Scientists at Penn State University have discovered the effect of increasing temperatures on the breeding patterns of the Malaria parasite; this comes after UK scientists discovered how rising temperatures in the Arctic reactivated a highly virulent virus that had been dormant in the Arctic ice for thousands of years. This makes it a fact that climate change will have an automatic effect on disease distribution, and the destruction of healthcare infrastructure.
In the long run, we are going to create healthcare infrastructure to provide healthcare for the populations that lack life insurance and face destruction by harsh weather. In doing this, we will be pursuing a very expensive venture if we ignore the plight of our environment.
I find it an easy solution for everyone to join the environmental protection campaigns by becoming an ardent advocate for a cleaner and safer environment that is free from excessive carbon dioxide and other chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which are responsible for warming this earth, causing all types of human suffering and reversing the path to health equity for all.