Thirst. Famine. Disease. We all know the health risks of droughts in the developing world from seeing the news reports from drought events in Africa and other places with severe droughts. The stark images beamed into our living rooms show us the reality of life without sufficient safe water to drink. We sip our tea, thankful for the clean, prefiltered water we have coming from our taps and feel safe from such risks.
Drought in the UK does not lead to the same magnitude of health impact as in the developing world, but there are still public health threats that arise in developed countries. In the Drought Risk and You project we are attempting to assess the health impacts of such drought in the UK.
There are those reliant on rain for their livelihoods – a lack of rain can cause financial hardship, and mental health problems as a consequence. Farming communities may be most significantly impacted – with crop losses leading to loss of income and an increase in stress and depression[i].
On a more widespread level, we still know little about how people who, when requested to reduce their water use in times of water scarcity, change their personal hygiene behaviours. For instance, people may wash their hands less often, which can lead to a range of health-related issues.
Drought may also lead to increased use of private, unregulated water sources – with risks of infectious disease[ii]. There may also be impacts on air quality, for example through dust in the air[iii].
Physical activity may also be impacted. There is increasing evidence of the beneficial outcomes of recreational walking and cycling and we want to consider whether drought impacts on these. We also want to know whether drought increases the risks from related conditions like heatstroke.
Changes in food prices in response to drought may lead to changes in consumption patterns. Are healthier foods more drought prone, leading to more significant impacts on consumption and consequent impacts on the waistlines of the country?
The health outcomes of drought are likely to be complex and unpacking them requires thinking beyond direct relationships between the changing climate and health impacts. We are going to use a new engagement tool to examine these linkages called the ‘ecosystems enriched Driver-Pressure-State-Exposure-Effect-Action’ model, or eDPSEEA for short. It has been developed to help identify the direct and indirect effects of changes in the environment on health[iv]. We hope to work with communities and experts to identify how drought may impact on health and shed light on the possible actions we can take to reduce risks.
We want to understand how people would respond to a drought in their area – and so be able to identify potential health benefits and risks that may arise. This may help the NHS, local health practitioners and local councils to better plan their actions in response to droughts. Uncovering the hidden health effects of drought may lead to improved public health policy and help identify better responses to drought, something which climate projections are predicting will affect us more and more in the UK in the future.
Tim Taylor1 and Mat White1
1 European Centre for the Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter Medical School, Truro Campus, Knowledge Spa, RCH Treliske, Truro TR1 3HD. Email: timothy.j.taylor@exeter.ac.uk and mathew.white@exeter.ac.uk
Acknowledgements
Tim Taylor and Mat White acknowledge funding from the Drought Risk and You project funded by NERC, ESRC, EPSRC, BBSRC and AHRC. They are both on the staff of the European Centre for Environment and Human Health, part of the University of Exeter Medical School, which is supported by investment from the European Regional Development Fund 2007 to 2013 and the European Social Fund Convergence Program for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
References
[i] Edwards, B., Gray, M., Hunter, B. (2014) The Impact of Drought on Mental Health in Rural and Regional Australia. Social Indicators Research. May 2014.
[ii] A recent systematic review of the evidence of health impacts of drought highlighted this as a risk – see Stanke, C., Kerac, M., Prudhomme, C., Medlock, J., Murray, V. (2013) Health Effects of Drought: a Systematic Review of the Evidence. PLoS Currents, June 5, 5.
[iii] See Stanke, C., Kerac, M., Prudhomme, C., Medlock, J., Murray, V. (2013) Health Effects of Drought: a Systematic Review of the Evidence. PLoS Currents, June 5, 5. for an overview of cases in Canada and the US where drought has been linked to airborne and dust related disease.
[iv] Reis, S., Morris, G., Fleming, L., Beck, S., Taylor, T., White, M., Depledge, M., Steinle, S., Sabel, C., Cowie, H., Hurley, F., Dick, J. McP., Smith, R., Austen, M. (in press) Integrating health and environmental impact analysis. Public Health http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2013.07.006