Climate change
Anjela0
Topicselection2.docx1
Topic: Climate change and its impact on global health
SUST 485-01: Global Health Perspectives
Topic Description
I have chosen to explore the topic of climate change and its impact on global health, with a specific focus on how extreme weather and environmental events increase the risk of infectious disease outbreaks and disrupt health systems in vulnerable regions. This topic is especially significant to me given the increasing frequency and severity of climate-related disasters worldwide, including the devastating flash floods that struck Nepal on August 26, 2026, when a glacier collapse in the Himalayas triggered a flood that has left over a thousand people dead and thousands more missing across several districts (Rafferty, 2026). This disaster is deeply personal to me, as I lost several extended family members and childhood friends from high school in the flooding, and it has made the urgency of this topic feel immediate rather than abstract. Scientists have noted that glacier instability events like this one are increasingly connected to broader climate warming trends affecting high-altitude ice, even as the precise triggers of this particular disaster remain under investigation (CARE, 2026). Beyond this event, my project will examine how climate-related disasters more broadly disrupt water, sanitation, and healthcare infrastructure, creating conditions for waterborne and infectious disease outbreaks, particularly in low- and middle-income countries with limited disaster preparedness capacity. This topic connects urgent global health priorities identified by organizations such as the World Health Organization and the United Nations to theongoing humanitarian crises.
Sources
World Health Organization. (2023). Climate change and health. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health
Pan American Health Organization. (n.d.). Climate change and health. https://www.paho.org/en/topics/climate-change-and-health
United Nations. (n.d.). Climate change. Global Issues. https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/climate-change
Acosta-España, J. D., Romero-Alvarez, D., Luna, C., & Rodriguez-Morales, A. J. (2024). Infectious disease outbreaks in the wake of natural flood disasters: Global patterns and local implications. Infezioni in Medicina, 32(4), 454–462. https://doi.org/10.53854/liim-3204-4
Iqbal, A., Sheikh, A., Ali, E., & Islam, Z. (2023). Impact of prolonged flooding in Pakistan: In the middle of unexpected health emergency. International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 38(2), 536–540. https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.3604
Pasqualotto, A. C., Vieceli, T., Riche, C. V. W., Dias, V. M. C. H., Ballalai, I., Cunha, J., Morejón, K. M. L., Weissmann, L., Chaves, T. S. S., Lucca, M. B., Mafaciolli, R., Bonamigo, R. R., Barth, A. L., Martins, A. F., Antochevis, L. C., Caierão, J., Motta, F. A., Scotta, M. C., Heinzelmann, R. S., . . . Motta, F. (2026). Floods and infectious diseases: Public health lessons from the 2024 southern Brazil disaster. Clinical Microbiology Reviews, 39(1). https://doi.org/10.1128/cmr.00165-24
Martins-Filho, P. R., Croda, J., Araújo, A. A. de S., Correia, D., & Quintans-Júnior, L. J. (2024). Catastrophic floods in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil: The need for public health responses to potential infectious disease outbreaks. Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical, 57, Article e00603-2024. https://doi.org/10.1590/0037-8682-0162-2024
Salam, A., Wireko, A. A., Jiffry, R., Ng, J. C., Patel, H., Zahid, M. J., Mehta, A., Huang, H., Abdul-Rahman, T., & Isik, A. (2023). The impact of natural disasters on healthcare and surgical services in low- and middle-income countries. Annals of Medicine & Surgery, 85, 3774–3777. https://doi.org/10.1097/MS9.0000000000001041
Sources Nepal flood
CARE. (2026, August 29). Nepal flash floods 2026: CARE's emergency response. https://www.care.org/news-and-stories/nepal-flash-floods-2026-care-emergency-response/
Rafferty, J. P. (2026, September 3). Nepal floods of 2026. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/Nepal-floods-of-2026
