Health and population

Health and population dynamics are intertwined, embodying an intricate relationship with significant implications on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Health is fundamentally at the center of these 17 global goals, aimed to transform the world by 2030. Specifically, Goal 3 endeavors to "Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages." It acknowledges that health is pivotal to human life quality, social cohesion, and sustainable development. Inextricably linked to this are the complexities of population dynamics, including growth rates, age structure, fertility and mortality rates, and migration patterns.

With the world's population projected to exceed 9.7 billion by 2050, the pressure on health systems will undoubtedly escalate. The demographic transition, with an aging population and an increasing prevalence of non-communicable diseases, poses new challenges for health systems globally. Additionally, areas with high fertility rates often overlap with extreme poverty, resulting in heightened health risks, including higher maternal and child mortality rates, malnutrition, and infectious diseases.

Moreover, rapid urbanization and migration present both opportunities and threats to health. While urban areas may provide better access to healthcare, they also harbor risks of disease transmission, air and water pollution, and social determinants of health like inadequate housing and social inequality. Simultaneously, migrants often face disproportionate health risks due to unstable living conditions, exploitation, and limited access to healthcare services.

Achieving the SDGs will necessitate comprehensive approaches that consider the intricate interplay of health and population dynamics. It means strengthening health systems, promoting universal health coverage, and addressing social determinants of health. It also implies crafting policies that recognize demographic realities and foster an environment conducive to sustainable development. Only by understanding and harnessing these dynamics can the world meaningfully progress towards realizing the SDGs, ensuring healthy lives and well-being for all.

Climate change refers to long-term shifts in weather conditions and patterns of extreme weather events. It may lead to changes in health threat to human beings, multiplying existing health problems. This review examines the scientific evidences on the impact of climate change on human infectious diseases. It identifies research progress and gaps on how human society may respond to, adapt to, and prepare for the related changes.

We examine human displacement among indigenous tribal conservation refugees—the Sahariya—recently displaced from a wildlife sanctuary in central India. We focus on human displacement's mental health toll as well as the displacement-related changes that help explain such emotional suffering. To do so, we compare individuals relocated from the core of the sanctuary to those allowed to remain in their villages inside the sanctuary's buffer zone. The drawing of the sanctuary boundary—and thus also the assignment of villagers to relocation versus remaining in the buffer zone—was capricious.

New born baby being resuscitated
Every year, an estimated 1.8 million newborns die from breathing related problems. Precious time is lost when birth attendants interrupt critical ventilation to check a newborn’s heart rate by hand. Elsevier brought together five experts from diverse fields, who used their skills and creativity to brainstorm a solution. It's one example of a successful multidisciplinary approach, in this case to help the advancement of SDG 3.2, to end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age.
Background: The Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor study 2013 (GBD 2013) is the first of a series of annual updates of the GBD. Risk factor quantification, particularly of modifiable risk factors, can help to identify emerging threats to population health and opportunities for prevention. The GBD 2013 provides a timely opportunity to update the comparative risk assessment with new data for exposure, relative risks, and evidence on the appropriate counterfactual risk distribution.
Elsevier,

Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 19, December 2015

The elevated air temperature of a city, urban heat island (UHI), increases the heat and pollution-related mortality, reduces the habitats' comfort and elevates the mean and peak energy demand of buildings. To countermeasure this unwanted phenomenon, a series of strategies and policies have been proposed and adapted to the cities. Various types of models are developed to evaluate the effectiveness of such strategies in addition to predict the UHI. This paper explains the compatibility of each type of model suitable for various objectives and scales of UHI studies.

Contributing to SDGs 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals), this policy report explores collaboration opportunities between penal policy, public health, development and human rights in preparation to discuss at the 2016 United Nations General Assembly on the World Drug Problem.
Remarkable gains have been made in global health in the past 25 years, but progress has not been uniform. Mortality and morbidity from common conditions needing surgery have grown in the world's poorest regions, both in real terms and relative to other health gains. At the same time, development of safe, essential, life-saving surgical and anaesthesia care in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) has stagnated or regressed.
This paper extends the concept of therapeutic landscapes by investigating how green and blue spaces affect older adult health and wellbeing. We draw on interview data from participants aged 65-86 years old who described their everyday experiences with green and especially blue spaces across Metro Vancouver, Canada. Landscapes embedded with therapeutic qualities included parks, gardens, street greenery, lakes, and the ocean. Interactions with these spaces influenced participants' perceived physical, mental, and social health.
This paper contributes to the literature on Indigenous health, human dimensions of climate change, and place-based dimensions of health by examining the role of environment for Inuit health in the context of a changing climate. We investigated the relationship between one key element of the environment - sea ice - and diverse aspects of health in an Inuit community in northern Canada, drawing on population health and health geography approaches. We used a case study design and participatory and collaborative approach with the community of Nain in northern Labrador, Canada.
Human health is better now than at any time in history, but these gains have come at a high price: the degradation of nature’s ecological systems on a scale never seen in human history. A growing body of evidence shows that the health of humanity is intrinsically linked to the health of the environment, but by its actions humanity now threatens to destabilise the Earth’s key life-support systems. As a Commission, we conclude that the continuing degradation of natural systems threatens to reverse the health gains seen over the last century. The SDGs provide a great opportunity to integrate health and sustainability through the judicious selection of relevant indicators relevant to human wellbeing, the enabling infrastructure for development, and the supporting natural systems, together with the need for strong governance.

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