JAMAICA has another important reason to pay attention to climate change: the preservation of the island’s public health, according to Ana Treasure, environmental health adviser with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO).

“Climate change affects temperature and affects also rainfall,” Treasure told the Observer after addressing a climate change workshop hosted by Environmental Solutions Limited last Thursday at the Terra Nova All Suite Hotel in Kingston. “It affects also vector management and that has to do with mosquito breeding and also with rats.

“We see that we have seasonal problems after rain, and we have a situation of a proliferation of mosquitoes as well when we have rain,” Treasure added.

The issue of mosquitoes, the PAHO adviser noted, is also of concern as the earth’s temperature increases due to climate change.

“At higher temperatures, we have concerns with mosquitoes and dengue. And we have concerns with mosquitoes also because of malaria,” Treasure said.

In addition to causing an increase in the temperature, climate change causes an increase in such natural disasters as hurricanes, which, in turn, causes heavy rainfall and flooding – as was seen in several communities in Jamaica during the passage of hurricanes Ivan and Wilma.

“We have concerns too with heavy rainfall, which causes water run-off. The water run-off comes from the soil with bacteria and parasites that contaminate the water sources at times. And those water sources are the ones that are treated for water consumption,” Treasure said.

“Also, there are times when we have problems in the pipeline, and our drinking water could get contaminated because of the parasites and bacteria that are in the soil. When there is drought, we have less water and higher concentrations of bacteria and parasite that cause diseases like gastroenteritis,” she added.

Against this background, she said it was essential that Jamaicans take note of the dangers of climate change to their health, and take the necessary precautionary measures to remain healthy.

“What we need to do is to be able to reduce our vulnerability to these situations by ensuring our water supply systems are well looked after, and that we reduce the amount of possibilities of entry or intrusion into the pipeline (of parasites),” Treasure said.

“(We also need to) ensure that the quality of the water that is treated is good quality, and that the treatment plants are operated effectively. Also, at the household level, that people store water efficiently and effectively. Water tanks in the household (we need to ensure) that they clean them, and when they have filters that we clean them too,” she added.

Beyond that, she said people needed to take care to adhere to certain basic tenets of good health, such as washing hands with soap.

“If you do not wash the hands with soap, you do not wash the hands, you wet the hands. And in terms of vector control, we try to say how we eliminate breeding grounds because if there is no breeding ground, there will not be any adult mosquitoes because they will not have the opportunity to lay eggs and to reproduce,” she said.

“And be very much aware of not having solid waste or any opportunity for rats to come around,” she added.