The world’s largest and most comprehensive study of the long-term health impacts of flooding – via analysis of over 300 million hospitalisations records in eight countries prone to flooding events, including Australia – has found an increased risk of 26 per cent of all diseases serious enough to require hospitalisation.
The world’s largest and most comprehensive study of the long-term health impacts of flooding – via analysis of over 300 million hospitalisations records in eight countries prone to flooding events, including Australia – has found an increased risk of 26 per cent of all diseases serious enough to require hospitalisation. This impact on the health of communities lasts up to seven months post event.
The study, led by Monash University researchers, and published in the journal, Nature Water, found that flooding events – which are increasing globally due to climate change – led to increases in hospitalisation for cardiovascular diseases (35%), respiratory diseases (30%), infectious diseases (26%), digestive diseases (30%) such as gastroenteritis, mental health disorders (11%), diabetes (61%), cancer (34%), nervous system disorders (34%), and renal diseases (40%).
Led by Professors Yuming Guo and Professor Shanshan Li, the study covered the period from 2010 to 2019, looking at 747 communities from eight countries/territories that had experienced major flood events in that period, including the northeast region of New South Wales in Australia, along the Amazon River and the southern region of Brazil, within the Mekong Basin in Vietnam, and in the south region of Thailand.
An estimated 23 per cent of the global population is exposed to inundation due to serious flooding equivalent to a 1 in 100-year event. According to Professor Guo, there will be “an escalation in the severity, duration and frequency of floods due to the more frequent extreme precipitation events and rising sea levels due to global warming.”
Read more at Monash University
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