Beri Deepti, Elkington Jane, Moola Sandeep, Bhaumik Soumyadeep, Jagnoor Jagnoor
Injury Division, The George Institute for Global Health (TGI), New Delhi, India.
Injury Division, TGI, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
J Family Med Prim Care. 2024 Sep;13(9):3552-3563. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_958_23. Epub 2024 Sep 11.
Disrupted weather patterns are associated with climate change. Between 2001 and 2018, nearly 74% of disasters were water-related, including floods and cyclones. Such water-related cataclysmic events increase the risk of drowning. We aimed to map evidence on the impact of climate change on water-related physical events, associated human migration, and drowning burden in India.
We searched electronic databases, government reports, and relevant websites to map evidence on water-related physical events (including but not limited to sea-level rise, glacier bursts, lake bursts, floods, rainfall, cyclones, and droughts) and consequent human migration using narrative review approach, while drowning burden through scoping review approach. We summarized the results narratively.
Evidence from 48 studies and seven reports suggest that India will witness the greatest sea-level rise, significantly impacting poor coastal communities. An increase in droughts, cyclonic rainfall, storms, and floods, with increasing surface rainwater and streamflow water, due to melting glaciers is expected. Climate change-triggered migration is expected notably in northeast and south India, making farmers, drivers, street vendors, women, and youth most vulnerable. No direct evidence was identified on the impact of climate change, water-related disasters, meteorological events, or seasonal variations on drowning from India.
Our study highlights a significant gap in the availability of context-specific and localized data to improve disaster response and strengthen public health systems, especially for areas most vulnerable to climate change. There is an urgent need to generate new knowledge and understanding of climate change, water-related or meteorological events, and seasonal variations' impact on drowning burden as the level of risk remains unknown.
天气模式的紊乱与气候变化相关。在2001年至2018年期间，近74%的灾害与水有关，包括洪水和飓风。此类与水相关的灾难性事件增加了溺水风险。我们旨在梳理关于气候变化对印度与水相关的自然事件、相关人口迁移及溺水负担影响的证据。
我们检索了电子数据库、政府报告及相关网站，采用叙述性综述方法梳理与水相关的自然事件（包括但不限于海平面上升、冰川爆发、湖泊决堤、洪水、降雨、飓风和干旱）及由此导致的人口迁移的证据，同时采用范围综述方法梳理溺水负担的证据。我们对结果进行了叙述性总结。
48项研究和7份报告的证据表明，印度将见证最大幅度的海平面上升，这将对贫困沿海社区产生重大影响。预计由于冰川融化，干旱、气旋降雨、风暴和洪水将会增加，地表雨水和径流也会增加。预计气候变化引发的迁移在印度东北部和南部尤为明显，农民、司机、街头小贩、妇女和青年最为脆弱。未发现关于气候变化、与水相关的灾害、气象事件或季节变化对印度溺水影响的直接证据。
我们的研究凸显了在获取特定背景和本地化数据以改善灾害应对及加强公共卫生系统方面存在重大差距，尤其是对于最易受气候变化影响的地区。由于风险水平尚不清楚，迫切需要产生关于气候变化、与水相关或气象事件以及季节变化对溺水负担影响的新知识和理解。
