The Impact of Natural Disasters on Child Health

项目摘要/摘要 气候变化正在增加极端天气事件的频率、强度和人员伤亡，例如 洪水和飓风。生活在低收入和中等收入国家的儿童尤其 容易受到这些灾害对健康的影响，因为许多人生活在缺乏资源的地区 减轻、应对和恢复破坏。孩子们也可能对 灾害对健康的间接影响--因以下条件受损而导致的发病率和死亡率 粮食安全和清洁水--因为他们的健康更容易受到冲击。然而，这些间接的 影响通常不包括在灾难死亡人数的估计中。获得间接影响的估计 因此，灾害对儿童健康造成的负担是制定缓解和适应战略的核心。 波多黎各飓风玛丽亚最近的证据表明，间接死亡影响可能会很大 超过了直接影响。在拟议的项目中，我们的目标是改进对直接和 50年以上洪水和风暴(即飓风、气旋和台风)造成的间接儿童死亡负担 LMIC。这些灾害类型特别受气候变化的影响，对人类造成了毁灭性的影响 通行费。具体地说，我们建议(I)编目#年暴风雨和洪水的准确位置和强度。 非洲、亚洲和拉丁美洲；(2)将灾害事件与儿童健康记录联系起来；(3)估计影响 这些灾害对儿童死亡率的影响；和(Iv)研究导致儿童死亡的机制和行为 与灾害相关的死亡率，这将有助于制定减灾战略。这项研究将提供第一个 一些最具危害性的灾难对儿童的间接影响的广泛经验证据 低收入国家的健康状况。我们的成果将指导减轻这些悲惨事件后果的努力。

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Climate change is increasing the frequency, intensity, and human toll of extreme weather events such as floods and hurricanes. Children living in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) are particularly vulnerable to the health impacts of these disasters because many live in areas that lack the resources to mitigate, respond to, and recover from the devastation. Children might also be particularly sensitive to the indirect health effects from disasters—morbidity and mortality due to compromised conditions such as food security and clean water—as their health is more vulnerable to shocks. However, these indirect effects are typically not included in the estimates of disaster deaths. Getting estimates of the indirect burden of disasters on child health is therefore central for designing mitigation and adaptation strategies. Recent evidence from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico suggests that indirect mortality impacts could far outweigh the direct effects. In the proposed project we aim to improve measurement of the direct and indirect child mortality burden of floods and storms (i.e., hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons) in over 50 LMICs. These disaster types are particularly impacted by climate change and have a devastating human toll. Specifically, we propose to (i) catalog the precise location and intensity of storms and floods in Africa, Asia, and Latin America; (ii) link disaster events to child health records, (iii) estimate the impact of these disasters on child mortality; and (iv) study the mechanisms and behaviors that contribute to disaster related mortality, which will help inform mitigation strategies. This study will provide the first wide-spanning empirical evidence of the indirect impacts of some of the most harmful disasters on child health in LMICs. Our results will guide efforts to mitigate the consequences from these tragic events.