The Impact of Natural Disasters on Child Health

项目总结/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（LMIC）的儿童尤其 易受这些灾害的健康影响，因为许多人生活在缺乏资源的地区， 减轻、应对并从灾难中恢复。儿童也可能特别敏感， 灾害对健康的间接影响-由于条件受到损害而造成的发病率和死亡率， 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 灾害造成的死亡估计数通常不包括影响。估计间接 因此，灾害对儿童健康造成的负担是制定减灾和适应战略的核心。 最近波多黎各飓风玛丽亚的证据表明，间接的死亡率影响可能远远超过 超过了直接影响。在拟议的项目中，我们的目标是改善测量的直接和 洪水和风暴造成的间接儿童死亡负担（即，飓风、旋风和台风）， 中低收入国家。这些灾害类型特别受气候变化的影响， 通行费具体而言，我们建议（i）将风暴和洪水的准确位置和强度编入目录， 非洲、亚洲和拉丁美洲;（ii）将灾害事件与儿童健康记录联系起来;（iii）估计影响 这些灾害对儿童死亡率的影响;（四）研究导致儿童死亡的机制和行为。 与灾害有关的死亡率，这将有助于为减灾战略提供信息。这项研究将提供第一个 一些最有害的灾害对儿童的间接影响的广泛经验证据 中低收入国家的保健。我们的研究结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.