Impact on Vietnam

Health

Climate shapes not only habits of life but also human characteristics and physical forms. Global warming will lead to a series of changes in the living environment, significantly affecting the health of the human population.

Analysis of the forthcoming climatic change indicates that hot and humid weather with negative effects on health may exert a greater influence as temperatures rise.

Sultry weather is likely to increase in summer and may appear earlier in spring in North Vietnam in the Red River Delta. The hot weather will increase in the south. In the coastal area of Central Vietnam and the low-lying area in the northwest, dry, hot weather could possibly increase.

The likely impact on human health can be determined by consideration of the role played by climatic factors in the present-day. Some of these influences may decrease in importance, reducing associated impacts on human health, whilst others will become more important.

First, weather and climate play the role of a direct agent. The solar regime in low latitude areas with its high radiation intensity results in heat illnesses and sunstroke, commonly found in summer in almost all low-lying areas. The prolonged stress imposed on the body's heat-adjusting system in hot and humid environments is also the cause of asthenia, giving rise to the development of other diseases.

In some coastal areas in Central Vietnam and in the low valleys in the northwest, the hot and dry weather due to the föhn effect creates other impacts. Low humidity facilitates sweat evaporation and the maintenance of the heat balance of the body. Due to quick evaporation, the body may lose water and the mineral balance is disrupted, leading to exhaustion.

The existence of the cold winter in the north, especially in the mountain areas, is the cause of syndromes relating to cold, such as frostbite, pneumonia, bronchitis and other respiratory diseases. These may become reduced in frequency as temperatures rise.

Second, climate and weather have the role of a stimulant, resulting in complaints related to the cardio-vascular, respiratory, nervous and digestive systems.

In the northern winter, the prolonged cold and damp air is a favourable element for chronic diseases of the respiratory system such as tuberculosis, whooping cough, sore throat and bronchitis. These problems may become less frequent as global warming develops.

Rapid changes in the weather during the period of seasonal transition, especially ahead of cold fronts associated with northeast winds, exert a strong influence on several kinds of disease and can cause death. Most notable amongst these impacts are cardio-vascular complaints in the elderly, such as high blood pressure and cardiac infarction.

Changes in atmospheric electric fields before cold fronts, typhoons and thunderstorms greatly stimulate diseases relating to the nervous and respiratory system, such as whooping cough, asthma, bronchitis, sore throat, rheumatism and spinal diseases.

Weather and climate also affect human health indirectly. Hot and humid environments represent favourable conditions for the development of bacteria, insects and other disease carriers such as flies and rats.

Digestion-related diseases such as diarrhoea and dysentery develop mainly in this weather. Other diseases, such as measles, dengue fever and Japanese B encephalitis, occur and develop in close relation with the development of mosquitoes and other insects.

The explosion and expansion of diseases such as dengue fever and influenza are also the result of certain climate and weather conditions, namely warm-humid weather in spring and cold fronts in autumn.

Finally, there is concern that climate warming in an already humid environment will lead to a marked increase in the weather patterns that favour disease-carrying bacteria.

It is clear that planning the provision of health care and associated facilities should take into account the possibility of the changing incidence of disease and other health problems.

Based on material provided by
Dr Tran Viet Lien, Hydrometeorological Service

"Impact on Vietnam: Water resources"

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