Dr. (Mrs.) Malti Goel, President CCRI delivered First Dr. S.Z. Qasim ORATION at National Environment Science Academy on 4th July 2019

Dr. (Mrs.) Malti Goel, President CCRI and Former Scientist 'G' & Head STAC delivered first lecture on Climate Change and its effect on Human Health in the Dr. S.Z. Qasim ORATION. The lecture was organized by National Environmental Science Academy (NESA) on July 4, 2019 in the Auditorium, School of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (SPER), Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi. Dr. Malti Goel said Dr. Qasim as a visionary scientist inspired many and made very many contributions on the national scene.  A Marine Biologist turned into Oceanographer he led the first expedition to Antarctica in 1981.  It displayed strengths of India in global scientific community and his contribution has been recorded in Polar Science in 2018. She thanked NESA for this privilege. Climate Change and its effect on Human Health elaborating various causes and factors responsible for Climate change, the effects on human health, various preventive measures to minimise the hazardous effects. The health risks of climate change arise from the interactions of three factors: i) How climate change will alter the ecosystem that support mosquito populations; ii) Who is exposed most to these changing weather patterns; and iii) The underlying vulnerability of the exposed populations. It was further explained that there can five risks areas, namely;  

1. Degrading Air quality
2. Frequent Heat waves
3. Vector borne diseases
4. Food and water borne diseases, and
5. Mental health problems

Climate Change induced health concerns require more efforts to address many different persistent and emerging health issues. Scientific assessment of future rate of health impacts at a place can be computed from Baseline health status x Expected changes in exposure x Response function of population. It would help in identifying indicators at the intersection between the environment and health.